CMS Proposes 2.6% Bump To Inpatient Pay In Fiscal 2025

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with reactions from hospital industry lobbying groups and organizations. The Biden administration is proposing a 2.6% increase for inpatient hospitals’ payments for the coming fiscal year, a $3.3 billion increase over the current year’s payout, as well as other policy adjustments intended to shore up surgical care coordination, drug ...

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CMS Final Rule On Broker Comp, Health Equity Could Shake Up Medicare Advantage

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a host of actions ranging from broker compensation, health equity, mental health, supplemental benefits and biosimiliars, in the Contract Year 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D final rule Thursday night.

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California Budget Deal Gets Early Start On Deficit

Not filling open positions in state government, cutting a school facilities program and several climate initiatives, delaying funding for public transit — these are some of the first steps that California officials plan to take to deal with a looming multibillion-dollar budget deficit.

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Study Finds Medical Debt Relief Doesn’t Always Work

A first-of-its-kind study from Stanford economist Neale Mahoney finds that efforts to help low-income Americans by buying up their medical debt aren’t going as planned.

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After Public Push, CMS Curbs Health Insurance Agents’ Access to Consumer SSNs

Until last week, the system that is used to enroll people in federal Affordable Care Act insurance plans inadvertently allowed access by insurance brokers to consumers’ full Social Security numbers, information brokers don’t need.

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Change Healthcare Faces Second Ransomware Dilemma Weeks After ALPHV Attack

Change Healthcare is allegedly being extorted by a second ransomware gang, mere weeks after recovering from an ALPHV attack. RansomHub claimed responsibility for attacking Change Healthcare in the last few hours, saying it had 4 TB of the company’s data containing personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to active US military personnel and other patients, medical ...

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The Database You Don’t Want To Need: Check To See If Your Health Data Was Hacked

More than 144 million Americans’ medical information was stolen or exposed last year in a record-breaking number of health care data breaches, a USA TODAY analysis of Health and Human Services data found. After breaking records in 2023, the most significant breach hit in February when a ransomware attack targeted Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest health care ...

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What Happens If Medical Records Are Stolen? As Breaches Become More Common, Be In The Know

Health care data breaches soared to record-breaking levels in 2023, fueled by a surge in ransomware attacks and increased targeting of the third-party vendors hospitals and other health care providers use. Exposure of protected health information and personally identifiable information can put patients at risk of identity theft or insurance fraud. “Be careful not to share ...

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Oakland Athletics Playing Ball At Sutter Health Park In 2025-2027, A New Milestone For Health System Sports Deals

Sacramento, California-based Sutter Health is getting called up to the big leagues next summer when the Oakland Athletics take up residence at a minor league park bearing its name. The team’s owner announced Thursday that the A’s will call Sutter Health Park home for the 2025-27 MLB seasons. The team is playing out its last ...

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28% Of Workers Have $0 Saved For Retirement: Employers, Tailor Your Messaging

Employers spend a lot of money and time offering robust benefits packages, but it's not enough to simply offer a retirement benefit — they must understand what will work best for employees, recommends GoBankingRates.

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