According to the office of U.S. Senator Charles E. Shumer (D-NY), the $1.13 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance funding for Sandy repair work and mitigation projects at New York University’s (NYU) Langone Medical Center is the second-largest Project Worksheet in FEMA’s history.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally issued a rule finalizing Oct. 1, 2015, as the new compliance date for healthcare providers, health plans and healthcare clearinghouses to transition to ICD-10. This marks the second one-year delay for the ICD-10 transition.

UCSF Medical Center and John Muir Health have signed a letter of intent to develop a new company that will be equally owned and operated by both organizations. This new company, the healthcare systems say, will allow them to each remain independent yet at the same time work together on a health care network covering the whole San Francisco Bay Area region.

The American Medical Association (AMA) is doing a full court press to get every member to verify his or her industry payments well before the August 27 deadline to dispute reported data because the process is turning out to be longer and more glitch prone than many anticipated.

Community Health Systems had a slow first quarter with winter weather disruptions that plagued its initial months of operation following its blockbuster merger with Health Management Associates. The second quarter did not do enough to lift revenue and the leading U.S. hospital operator came in short of guidance by $90 million just after other companies like LifePoint Hospitals and HCA Holdings had released stellar Q2 results for their hospitals.

The U.S. Senate voted 97 to 0 Tuesday to confirm the appointment of former Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald, 61, as the new Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, a move that will bring a much needed branding expert into the VA noted David A. Shore, Ph.D., a former associate dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and an expert in leading change initiatives in healthcare organizations.

Some physicians in the St. Louis, Missouri area are opting out of their employment contracts with the non-profit Catholic healthcare system Mercy over new efforts to standardize physician pay by linking them more directly to individual physician RVUs.

Fewer uninsured and charity-care patients, more admissions and emergency room visits, and a higher acuity and longer stays for admitted patients — these are just a few of the effects of healthcare reform that are lifting revenue for HCA Holdings, the nation’s largest publically traded hospital operator say company officials.