With the new year marking the official start of another record-breaking year for Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment, this week’s graphic takes a look at MA star ratings.

The numbers from hospital and health system M&A activity in 2024 confirm the unevenness of recovery and the challenges that many organizations continue to face. The percentage of transactions involving a financially distressed party and the percentage of transactions involving a divestiture both reached record highs.

While patient volumes decreased this month, expenses rose. The workforce continues to be competitive as labor expenses rose despite the dip in patient volumes.

The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson drew a chilling response from much of the American public. While wholly inappropriate, this reaction suggests that America’s healthcare consumers might want something very different from what they currently receive.

Congress scrambles for a new funding deal, a report details the financial impacts of a mandatory bundled payment model, and a woman receives a genetically modified pig kidney transplant.

Congress scrambles for a new funding deal, a report details the financial impacts of a mandatory bundled payment model, and a woman receives a genetically modified pig kidney transplant.

On today’s episode, host J. Carlisle Larsen speaks with POLITICO’s Ben Leonard to talk more about his healthcare choices, their chances of getting confirmed by the Senate, and what his picks could signal about his second administration’s priorities.

Congress negotiates its year-end healthcare package, Dreamers lose access to ACA exchanges, and Elevance reverses its controversial anesthesia policy.

With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, states were required to provide continuous enrollment for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries in exchange for enhanced federal funding.

Supplemental funding programs, cybersecurity risks, and industry outlooks were the themes of this year’s Therese L. Wareham Rating Agency Panel at the 2024 Kaufman Hall Healthcare Leadership Conference.

It has been an incredibly busy and exciting year for our Strategy & Business Transformation practice at Kaufman Hall. In 2024, we observed hospitals and health systems take steps to reinvigorate their strategic efforts amid a stabilizing, but still challenging, outlook.

The future will favor payers that adapt to changing market circumstances with agency and velocity. Payers will need to make tough choices.