Healthcare CIOs and CISOs are monitoring the recent Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposal to update the HIPAA Security Rule. These changes, outlined in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), aim to increase cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI). As leaders evaluate the potential impact, the main question is, will these updates fulfill compliance requirements or enhance the security framework for safeguarding patient data?
Nurses are continuing to leave the workforce, and there aren’t enough graduates entering the nursing field to fill the gaps - this information was recently announced by the Maine Nursing Action Coalition.
Aroostook County is currently seeing a nursing shortage similar to the one it faced three years ago, however this shortage is expected to intensify by 2030, according to a report from the Cypress Research Group.
Part of the challenge is that a large portion of people in the nursing workforce are approaching retirement age and are expected to leave the profession within the next five years. On top of that, the younger population in Aroostook County is decreasing.
Providence Health warned state officials Monday that a looming strike involving thousands of nurses and physicians across multiple facilities will create a "significant risk" for health care in Oregon.
As a result, the hospital system will start limiting admissions at one of its Portland-area hospitals.
Health care workers represented by the Oregon Nurses Association plan to strike starting Friday morning after delivering a 10-day notice to Providence last week. ONA has said that this would be the largest health care worker strike in state history, and the first to include doctors.
In a statement, Providence chief executive Jennifer Burrows admitted that while striking nurses can be replaced with temporary workers, physicians can't to the same extent. The strike will include nurses at all eight Providence hospitals, but also extends to attending physicians, or hospitalists.
The largest impact will be on the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center campus, Providence said. Between 60 and 70 physicians there are expected to join the strike.
Over the past few years the health insurance industry has seen major M&As, further consolidating power into the hands of a few dominant companies — leaving Americans with fewer options. As of 2023, just four health insurers control a staggering 50% of the market, while six companies account for 30% of all healthcare spending in the United States. While these mergers have boosted profits for these companies, they also, in some cases, raised premiums for consumers.
The man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare's CEO outside a New York City hotel is unlikely to appear in Manhattan federal court again before mid-February after prosecutors and lawyers on Monday requested more time to prepare the case for trial. The lawyers agreed in a letter to the court that the deadline to bring an indictment against Luigi Mangione can be extended from Jan. 18 to Feb. 17.
People with diabetes who were taking GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs such as tirzepatide and semaglutide had significantly lower rates of hospital readmission, wound re-opening and hematoma after surgery, according to a large study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian.