Nearly 40% of adults living in rural areas have turned to emergency departments for care that could have been handled in a primary care setting, pointing to persistent issues rural residents face when trying to access routine healthcare services, according…
Integration & Physician Issues
Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke’s University Health Network is pausing labor and delivery services at its Grand View Hospital in Sellersville, Pa., due to “unanticipated staffing shortages.” The maternity service pause takes effect Dec. 1, according to a post on St.…
Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health’s new joint medical school, Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, has named its inaugural leadership team and more than 200 faculty members. The appointments include deans overseeing key areas such as education, clinical affairs,…
Rural primary care practices deliver a broader range of services than their urban counterparts, even as workforce shortages and federal policy changes strain access and affordability. These findings were detailed in a Nov. 12 report from the Primary Care Collaborative.…
Investment in medical groups plateaued in September for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Kaufman Hall’s “Physician Flash Report” for the third quarter of 2025. Kaufman Hall, a Vizient company, collected data from 200,000 employed providers across…
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The Association of American Medical Colleges is calling on medical schools and academic medical centers to strengthen nutrition education across all stages of medical training. In a Nov. 6 call to action, the association urged deans and medical education leaders…
In the days after CMS finalized its 2026 physician fee schedule, dozens of physician organizations rebuked the rule and a 2.5% reduction the agency called an “efficiency adjustment.” Reimbursement under Medicare will shrink for more than 7,000 physician services, or…
Hospitals and academic medical centers are posting a larger share of physician job postings, but financial uncertainty in the market could dampen their recruiting efforts, according to a recent report from AMN Healthcare, a recruiting firm. Between April 2024 and…
A new federal policy requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee to sponsor highly skilled workers from other countries could disproportionately affect the nation’s poorest areas when it comes to healthcare access, according to an analysis published Oct. 29 in…
During an Oct. 28 earnings call, UnitedHealth Group executives said the company has overrelied on its network of more than 90,000 affiliated and employed physicians and plans to switch to a direct employment model. UnitedHealth Group’s care services division, Optum…