Health system leaders are expecting healthcare decisions in 2023 to be defined by staffing challenges, inflation, patient affordability, shrinking margins and supply chain struggles, according to a recent Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey.

Five health systems recently posted job listings seeking revenue cycle vice presidents. 

Not only do healthcare companies, including hospital groups, face sustained challenges related to labor shortages and inflation into 2023, they are up against a wall of maturing debt looming large in 2024 and 2025, analysts at Moody's said.

In a letter sent to President Joe Biden this week, 25 governors ask for the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency in April. 

Hundreds of hospitals sue patients or take other legal actions, such as garnishing wages, to collect on medical debt, according to a Dec. 21 report from Kaiser Health News.

A rural hospital in Arkansas now looks as if it may open in early January after facing several delays, the hospital's CEO told Becker's Dec. 20.

Pittsburg, Kan.-based Ascension Via Christi Hospital is closing its behavioral health department due to a lack of funding and staffing, CBS affiliate KOAM reported Dec. 19. 

Newport Hospital, part of Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan Health System, generates an annual economic impact of at least $54 million in the local community, a study by local college students concluded.

Aspen (Colo.) Valley Hospital is instituting an across-the-board 6 percent wage hike along with an equivalent increase in patient bills and fees, The Aspen Times reported Dec. 15.

Centennial, Colo.-based Centura Health broke ground on an expansion to its St. Anthony North Hospital in Westminster, the health system said Dec. 19.