Hospitals have the most to lose from healthcare’s blurring lines

The wave of megamergers involving health insurers could place the greatest pressure on both not-for-profit and for-profit hospitals, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service, if these new combinations steer patients away from hospital-owned facilities.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has published a list of recommendations aimed at ending gender disparities in medicine for compensation and career advancement, as well as calling on healthcare organizations to provide a minimum of six weeks paid leave for physicians, residents and medical students.

Amazon has reportedly shelved plans to sell and distribute pharmaceuticals to hospitals and health systems through its Amazon Business unit, a move which analysts said illustrates the difficulty outside companies face in disrupting the existing healthcare supply chain.

“Although medical devices provide great benefits to patients, they also present risks,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD. “And we are focusing equal attention on advancing new frameworks for identifying risks and protecting consumers.”

Critical access hospitals, ambulatory care and office-based surgical practices would be subject to new requirements for pain assessment and management under proposals released by the Joint Commission, with safe prescribing of opioids needing to be an “organizational priority” in all three settings.

The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Society of Addition Medicine (ASAM) have a jointly proposed a new alternative payment model (APM) centered around patients with a physical dependence on opioids, with a one-time payment for initiating medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and monthly payments for continuing treatment.

President Donald Trump will deliver a speech on April 26 focused on ways to lower prescription drug prices, but the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t expect it to include the more dramatic reforms Trump espoused on the campaign trail.

After at least 10 patients received improper diagnoses owed to pathology lab errors, Winston Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has been reviewing 9,291 cases ahead of a June deadline set by CMS that could strip its Medicare certification.

While allegations of rape, sexual assault and misconduct have ended the careers of Hollywood power brokers and politicians, the healthcare industry appears to be “often more forgiving,” according to an Associated Press (AP) investigation of physicians accused of abuse.