News Archive

March 29, 2021 - This year's Match Day held March 19 was the largest on record, according to the National Resident Matching Program, which operates the residency program application system. [ more ]

March 8, 2021 - The Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes new funding for rural hospitals but not as much as hospital groups have asked for. [ more ]

February 25, 2021 - COVID-19's impact on front-line healthcare staff will unfold for years to come, but it appears to have already had an effect on physicians' career plans, according to a new survey.  A surprisingly large percentage are considering leaving the practice of medicine entirely, planning to retire early, or leaving to work for another employer, based on a survey of 485 physicians and administrators by Jackson Physician Search. [ more ]

February 16, 2021 - Nearly a third of primary care doctors still have no idea when or whether their practice will get the COVID-19 vaccine to administer to patients, according to a new survey.  So far, primary care has been a largely untapped resource in the vaccine rollout, with 32% of doctors saying they have not been included in any state or regional distribution planning. [ more ]

January 28, 2021 - Physician net revenue was down 4.5% in 2020 compared to 2019 as the industry still struggles with declines in patient volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report finds. [ more ]

January 7, 2021 - While frontline health workers across the country began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine last month, many primary care doctors and their staff are left in the dark about their turn in line.

"Generally speaking, unaffiliated community practices are having tremendous challenges obtaining vaccines for the physicians and care teams at those sites," Shawn Martin, executive vice president and chief executive officer for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), told Fierce Healthcare. [ more ]

January 5, 2021 - It's not surprising that the COVID-19 pandemic drove a huge surge in telehealth visits as patients avoided in-person care in favor of remote consultations.  But what is unexpected? The growth in telehealth was not fueled by COVID-19 concerns but by visits for behavioral health issues and chronic conditions, according to a new study of Doctor On Demand data. [ more ]

December 21, 2020 - After months of fierce fighting on Capitol Hill, Congress on Monday night signed legislation that will avert millions in Medicare pay cuts for radiologists and other physician specialists. [ more ]

December 10, 2020 - Cityblock Health, a healthcare provider focused on marginalized populations with complex needs, has raised $160 million in an investment that values the company at more than $1 billion. [ more ]

December 7, 2020: More than 41% of radiologists separated from at least one practice over a recent four-year period, underscoring the specialty's increasingly mobile nature, experts wrote Friday. [ more ]

December 3, 2020: Walgreens and VillageMD will open their next 40 primary care clinics by the end of next summer, the latest step toward their goal of opening at least 500 such clinics over the next five years.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance invested $1 billion in VillageMD in July and announced plans to open as many as 700 Village Medical at Walgreens primary care clinics across 30 markets in the next several years. [ more ]

November 20, 2020: An Intel survey of healthcare decision-makers suggests great excitement for more widespread artificial intelligence and machine learning adoption, but also some skepticism.

In a survey of hundreds of healthcare decision-makers, Intel found that the percentage of respondents whose company is currently – or will be – using artificial intelligence nearly doubled after the onset of COVID-19. [ more ]

November 6, 2020: Healthcare added 58,300 jobs in October, with hospitals seeing job growth for the fourth month since March, according to the latest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. [ more ]

February 14, 2020 - Burnout among physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) is one of the most critical issues in healthcare. [ more ]

January 23, 2020 - t's an idea that could save Medicare billions of dollars a year, but it would have a major impact on physicians' revenue—cutting payments to surgeons and increasing those to primary care doctors. [ more ]

December 12, 2019 - Female medical students have hit a milestone. They now comprise the majority of enrolled U.S. medical students for the first time, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). [ more ]

December 1, 2019 - Neurosurgeons top the salary list, telemedicine is one of the fastest-growing sectors and primary care physicians are the most in-demand, according to a new study.  The research study on the 2019 labor market for doctors showed a 5% increase in job opportunities for physicians in the U.S. since 2018, according to the Doximity report. [ more ]

November 21, 2019 - The American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted a new policy to help ensure residents and fellows who lose their jobs due to unexpected teaching hospital closures are financially and professionally protected. [ more ]

September 6, 2019 - As America's population ages and demand outpaces supply, a physician shortage is intensifying.
Projections from the Association of American Medical Colleges say the U.S. will see a shortage of 46,900 to 121,900 physicians by 2032 in primary and specialty care. [ more ]

August 21, 2019 - Federal health centers across the country will receive nearly $107 million to support quality improvement efforts. [ more ]

July 24, 2019 - In a return to form, physician compensation levels grew in 2018, rising on average 2% for an overall mean income of $400,686, according to the results of Modern Healthcare's 26th annual Physician Compensation Survey. [ more ]

April 2, 2109: Telehealth use jumped 53% from 2016 to 2017, outpacing all other sites of care, according to a new report.  Telehealth utilization grew nearly twice as fast in urban than rural areas over that span, according to a new white paper from Fair Health, which parsed its database of 28 billion commercial insurance claims, the largest repository in the country. [ more ]

March 8, 2019 - A federal judge ruled Tuesday that United Behavioral Health breached its fiduciary duty to patients by using unreasonable and overly restrictive guidelines to make coverage decisions for tens of thousands of mental health and substance abuse patients. [ more ]

February 27, 2019: There's some good news when it comes to physician burnout.  After climbing for the last six years, a new survey reports the first drop—however modest—in the number of physicians who say they suffer from burnout. [ more ]

January 4, 2019 - The gap between U.S. hospitals' outpatient and inpatient revenue continued to shrink in 2017 as more patients elect to get care in cheaper outpatient settings, and some believe a flip is inevitable in the coming years. [ more ]

December 11, 2018 - Healthcare spending in the United States decelerated once again in 2017 to a growth rate of 3.9%, nearly a full percentage point lower than in 2016, according to new statistics released by the federal government on Thursday. [ more ]

October 31, 2018 - The American Medical Association (AMA) announced a five-year, $15 million grant program that seeks to transform residency training to best address the workforce needs of current and future healthcare systems. [ more ]

August 17, 2018 - The New York University School of Medicine announced on Thursday that it would cover the tuition of all its students, regardless of merit or need, citing concerns about the "overwhelming financial debt" facing graduates. [ more ]

July 24, 2018 - Primary care practices with a non-physician provider to physician ratio of 0.41 or greater earned over $100,000 more in healthcare revenue, MGMA found. Primary care practices that employ more physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other non-physician providers have greater healthcare revenue and productivity, the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) recently reported. [ more ]

June 6, 2018 - Increasing direct supervision of physician residents doesn't lower medical errors and can make trainees less autonomous, according to a new study published Monday. [ more ]

May 29, 2018 - High levels of employee turnover is costly in any industry, but as the demand for talented medical staff increases, issues with employee retention and recruitment can be particularly problematic for hospitals and health systems. [ more ]

May 15, 2018 - Health Quest's Vassar Brothers Medical Center will become a teaching hospital starting next year. Hospital President Ann McMackin said at the annual President's Breakfast on Tuesday that Vassar Brothers has been approved for general surgery residency for 2019. [ more ]

May 1, 2018 - It's not just primary care practices that are increasingly relying on advanced practice clinicians to help care for patients. A new study found that 28% of all specialty practices are employing nurse practitioners and physician assistants. [ more ]

April 14, 2018 - As the Trump administration and some in Congress whittle away at the Affordable Care Act, blue states are filling in gaps in an attempt to bolster their markets. Others are picking up chainsaws. [ more ]

April 12, 2018 - Estimates of a projected physician shortage just got worse.  The country could see a shortage of up to 120,000 physicians by 2030, according to a new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. [ more ]

April 3, 2018 - Most Virginia nurse practitioners could gain the autonomy to practice without a physician's oversight if Gov. Ralph Northam signs a bill the General Assembly passed with near-unanimous support. [ more ]

February 21, 2018 - The tax cut legislation signed into law late last year will help most for-profit hospitals in 2018, boosting their bottom lines at a time when several major chains are struggling with weak admissions and making acquisitions and capital investments more attractive. [ more ]

January 15, 2018 - Connecticut's highest court ruled Thursday on an issue that most people may think is already settled, saying doctors have a duty to keep patients' medical records confidential and can be sued if they don't. [ more ]

December 27, 2017 - Horizontal, vertical, regional, national, large- and small-scale—2017 marked a year of mergers.  They ranged in all shapes and sizes, from the national hospital system expansions charted by Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health to the vertical combination of retail pharmacy giant CVS Health and insurer Aetna. [ more ]

October 4, 2017 - Here's some great news for doctors: A new survey finds 95% of patients are satisfied with their primary care physicians, but many worried about healthcare costs. [ more ]