What You Should Know
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its FY 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) PPS final rule, enacting a 2.3% net payment rate increase for both IPPS acute care hospitals and LTCHs.The rule mandates nationwide expansion of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model—dubbed CJR-X—beginning January 1, 2028, covering hip, knee, and ankle replacements across inpatient and hospital
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Health IT | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
How to Automate Research Participant Payments: A Guide to Retention, Diversity, and Compliance
Paying people to take part in research is standard practice, a meaningful budget line and a documented factor in whether participants enroll and stay through completion. Yet the way participants are paid has often failed to keep pace with the rest of research operations. Mailed checks, site-held cash and manually distributed gift cards remain common, even as the rest of clinical operations has gone digital. That gap matters because participant payment is more than a thank-you; it is part of the
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J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Pharmacy Study: Digital Integration and Human Support Drive Customer Loyalty
What You Should Know
According to the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Pharmacy Study, overall mail-order pharmacy satisfaction rose 2 points year-over-year to 699 (on a 1,000-point scale), while brick-and-mortar satisfaction dropped 7 points to 669.The divergence is driven by weakening consumer trust and perceived value in physical retail stores, whereas mail-order growth is fueled by strong live-agent phone support and seamless digital tools.Good Neighbor Pharmacy ranked highest among brick-and-mortar
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The Future of Pharmacy Procurement:
From Purchasing Function to Data-Driven Strategy
With drug prices soaring, shortages intensifying, and government-mandated cost-sharing in question, hospital-system pharmacy procurement is becoming an increasingly fraught enterprise. Pharmacy leaders are routinely expected to deliver on critical outcomes, including financial performance, operational resilience, and regulatory readiness.
Health systems – with margins currently hovering around 2% and cash reserves plummeting – are pressuring pharmacies to shore up institutional viability.
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Vizient’s Summer 2026 Outlook Projects 3.39% Overall Healthcare Inflation
What You Should Know
Healthcare performance improvement company Vizient released its Summer 2026 Spend Management Outlook, projecting an overall supply chain, capital, and purchased services price inflation rate of 3.39% for 2027.Indirect spend and purchased services represent the highest growth category at 4.73% projected inflation, heavily driven by investments in IT hardware and software (6.29%), IT security (8.50%), construction (4.70%), and non-medical capital equipment (4.15%).Total
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Wolters Kluwer Health Partners with Epic to Deliver Integrated Clinical Content Solutions
What You Should Know
Wolters Kluwer Health has collaborated with Epic to offer an integrated suite combining UpToDate Lexidrug, Medi-Span, and UpToDate Patient Education directly within Epic EHR workflows.The combined offering targets safety-net institutions facing budget and resource constraints, including rural hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), state hospitals, tribal healthcare organizations, and small ambulatory practices.The integrated bundle consolidates three
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AMS Solutions Releases 2026 Benchmark Report on The State of Medical Billing
What You Should Know
Physician-founded revenue cycle vendor AMS Solutions published its State of Medical Billing 2026 benchmark report, detailing a rise in industry-wide claim denial rates to 9% (up from 7.5% in 2023).Increased Medicare Advantage penetration and automated machine-learning claim reviews by commercial payers are driving higher denial rates, extended days in accounts receivable (averaging 42 days, up from 38), and stricter documentation requirements.Neurology exhibits the
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M&A: VSee Health to Acquire $35M Healthcare Commerce Platform
What You Should Know
VSee Health, Inc. signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire healthcare technology and operating assets valued at approximately $42 million.The target assets support an integrated healthcare commerce platform serving the U.S. clinic-based wellness market, generating an unaudited annual revenue run rate over $35 million and approximately $7 million in EBITDA.Operating via an asset-light framework, the platform coordinates cloud-based ordering, payment
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How AI is Helping Healthcare Leaders Translate Patient Experience Data into Action
Every time a patient visits a healthcare facility, there is a treasure trove of information about their experience that could improve patient safety measures and lead to better outcomes.
Patients’ care experiences go far beyond clinical care. A patient recovering from surgery for a few days may interact with more than a dozen providers, specialists and staff. The patient may be moved from a surgical unit to a medical unit or an inpatient rehabilitation facility. They may be discharged
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Mayo Clinic and Einstein Hospital Israelita Partner to Expand Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect
What You Should Know
Mayo Clinic and Brazil’s Einstein Hospital Israelita completed a technological integration milestone to make de-identified clinical data from South America accessible via Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect.The collaboration expands global demographic, genetic, and regional clinical representation within Mayo Clinic’s privacy-preserving healthcare innovation ecosystem.Einstein Hospital Israelita joined Mayo Clinic Platform’s Early Adopter Program to establish secure, cloud-based
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