Influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus infections are rising across the U.S., and in New York, an emerging flu strain is affecting healthcare sites particularly hard.  Leaders of Northwell Health, a 28-hospital system based in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said…

St. Louis-based SSM Health is working to bring more specialty care under value-based compensation models over the next two years, as the health system seeks to extend physician accountability for quality metrics beyond traditional primary care-focused arrangements. The system already…

HHS has canceled several grants worth millions of dollars it had awarded to the American Academy of Pediatrics.  The Washington Post broke the news Dec. 17, reporting that HHS abruptly sunset seven grants this week. In an email with Becker’s,…

Health-related social needs, such as lack of access to food and transportation, are associated with higher utilization of emergency departments, according to research published Dec. 15 in JAMA.  Researchers from Minneapolis-based Allina Health, a 12-hospital system, analyzed more than 160,000…

Measles outbreaks are worsening in several states as the virus spreads nationwide, threatening the disease’s elimination status in the U.S. Five things to know: 1. As of Dec. 9, the CDC had confirmed 1,912 measles cases in 42 states —…

Breaking from a position it held for 34 years, the CDC said Dec. 16 it recommends shared decision-making between parents and clinicians on whether to administer the first hepatitis B vaccine to infants whose mothers test negative for the virus. …

About a dozen states are experiencing a surge in emergency department visits related to a new combination of fentanyl and a sedative 100 to 200 times more potent than xylazine, The New York Times reported Dec. 15.  The dangerous drug…

Flu-related hospitalizations have surged to their third-highest weekly rate for this point in the season in 15 years, according to CDC data. For the week ending Dec. 6, the cumulative flu hospitalization rate was 6.9 per 100,000 population — nearly…

Concierge and direct primary care models are rapidly reshaping the U.S. primary care landscape. These membership-based practices, which charge monthly or annual fees for enhanced access and longer visits, have increased in recent years — often operating outside the traditional…

The American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association and dozens of other groups representing healthcare professionals are urging federal lawmakers to pass newly reintroduced legislation that would expand the nation’s nursing faculty workforce and modernize nursing education.  The Future Advancement of…