At least 23 health systems have formed or taken a new identity since 2020 through mergers, new launches or rebrands, according to ownership data from the Lown Institute and Becker’s coverage.  The systems range from Advocate Health, a 69-hospital system…

Hospital margins fell in August as financial pressures mounted and the share of hospitals operating at a loss is growing, according to Kaufman Hall’s “National Hospital Flash Report,” released Oct. 13. The report is based on August 2026 financial performance…

Recent research has indicated Americans are warming up to “Medicare for All” propositions ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The latest Axios/Ipsos American Health Index survey polled 1,122 adults in late September. It found that 43% of Americans would support…

Maryland regulators are studying whether nonprofit hospitals’ offshore captive insurance companies, subsidiaries that hospitals form to cover their own risks such as malpractice claims, should be subject to the state’s 3% premium tax. The Maryland Insurance Administration held a public…

UnitedHealth Group reported $4.1 billion in profit for the third quarter of 2026, up 75% year over year, according to an Oct. 13 release. UnitedHealth raised its full-year outlook to at least $19.50 per share, with adjusted earnings of at…

Orlando (Fla.) Health is in the final stages of its demolition plan at its shuttered Rockledge (Fla.) Hospital, a spokesperson for Orlando Health said in an Oct. 13 statement shared with Becker’s.  “The city [of Rockledge] and community will determine…

Ask a Revenue Cycle Leader is a new series featuring insights from health system and hospital revenue cycle executives nationwide. Becker’s poses questions on the most pressing issues in healthcare finance — from payer relations and automation to workforce and…

Over 40% of roughly 1,800 U.S. rural hospitals have negative operating margins, with hundreds at high financial risk, according to an Oct. 13 report from the American Hospital Association. The report, “America’s Rural Hospitals at a Crossroads,” highlights the longstanding…

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health is undertaking several major transformation projects at once. The 136-hospital system is in the final weeks of bringing its revenue cycle in-house from Conifer Health Solutions, midway through consolidating onto a single instance of Epic, nine months…

Average private health insurance premiums rose 78.4% from 2011 to 2024, and growth in healthcare spending accounted for 91% of that increase, according to a study published Sept. 4 in JAMA Health Forum. Zack Cooper, PhD, an associate professor of…