In his first all-staff meeting as director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, MD, predicted the U.S. could end the AIDS epidemic with tools already available. He also committed the agency’s policies to be rooted in scientific evidence.

AAAHC recently honored a primary care center in Arizona and a surgical center in Connecticut for their exemplary work in quality improvement studies. The prestigious Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award recognizes AAAHC-accredited organizations that successfully implemented meaningful changes in their operations to boost quality of care, patient safety and overall efficiency.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced his office has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Sacramento-based Sutter Health, alleging the system used its dominance in Northern California to unlawfully raise prices for services and then used the profits reaped from these practices to grow even larger.

The failure to pass funding for reinsurance and cost-sharing reduction subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges and the potential for pharmaceutical-backed changes to the 340B drug discount program are just some of the major issues on the American Hospital Association’s radar this year, according to executive vice president of government affairs Tom Nickels.

In a presentation at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Congress, Joint Commission president and CEO Mark Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, made the case that creating a high-reliability organization with zero incidents of patient harm shouldn’t be seen as an abstract, aspirational goal.

In the latest example of an outside force making a move into healthcare, retail giant Walmart—the largest company in the world by revenue—is reportedly in preliminary discussions to acquire health insurer Humana, according to the Wall Street Journal.

If patients end up sitting around for too long, they may just walk out. According to a recent report by Vitals, long wait times led to 30 percent of patients leaving appointments at least once and 20 percent reported changing physicians.

Not far from any policy debate is the oft-repeated fact that healthcare makes up one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Newly published research took a deeper dive to investigate the impact of medical schools and teaching hospitals. And, as one would guess, they contribute a lot of the American economy, accounting for 3.1 percent of gross domestic product.