The largest nonprofit health systems, Ascension and CommonSpirit Health, saw their financial performance begin to rebound in fiscal year 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted performance a year earlier. 

Hospital margins and many volume metrics remain lower than levels before the pandemic, underlining how the spread of the delta variant continued to strain hospitals and health systems in August, according to a Sept. 27 Kaufman Hall report. 

CMS will pay the full cost of COVID-19 booster shots without cost-sharing for nearly all of its beneficiaries, the agency said Sept. 24.

Greg Hoffman serves as the CFO of Providence, a 52-hospital system with more than $25 billion in annual revenue. 

Intermountain Healthcare is working with healthcare revenue cycle management company PMMC to develop a digital price transparency strategy that improves the patient experience, the Salt Lake City-based health system said Sept. 23.

The Health Resources and Services Administration is giving hospitals a 60-day grace period for the first round of provider relief fund reporting. 

Several hospitals across the U.S. are laying off workers before the end of November. 

CMS is reviewing its decision to deny a majority of requests by hospitals for a mid-build exception to the site-neutral payment policy. 

The cost of having a baby in a U.S. hospital is rising, with recent research showing privately insured families spent an average $3,068 out of pocket for maternal and newborn hospitalizations from 2016 to 2019.

More than 800 hospitals — 40 percent of all rural hospitals in the country — were either at immediate or high risk of closure before the COVID-19 pandemic, and continuing financial pressures have some Alabama hospitals on the brink of shutting down. 

The House approved legislation Sept. 21 that aims to keep the government funded through early December and raise the debt ceiling.

Hospitals are concerned that the No Surprises Act won't address the main problems driving high surprise medical bills and that its implementation date is coming too soon for them to adequately prepare, Bloomberg Law reported Sept. 23.

Less than 5 percent of the U.S. population accounted for half of healthcare expenditures in 2018, according to a recent study published in JAMA Network Open. 

Ten hospitals and health systems recently posted job listings seeking revenue cycle management expertise.

Despite wanting to have conversations with hospital staff about the projected cost of their children's care, many families are left in the dark, a new study led by Stanford (Calif.) Medicine found. 

Several healthcare organizations recently received donations to fund research, new facilities and patient care advancements.

Though the effects may not be as devastating as they were in March 2020, the pandemic is still hurting hospitals' bottom lines. Below are five numbers that illustrate the financial woes healthcare providers are still experiencing due to the pandemic:

A new analysis shows the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to drive hospital and health system losses throughout 2021. 

Healthcare services provider Nomi Health wiped out more than $225 million in medical debt via a partnership with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, the company said Sept. 21.

The average billed charge for a COVID-19 hospitalization with complexities is $317,810, while the median billed charge is $208,136, according to cost estimates released Sept. 21 from Fair Health.