Walgreens Caught in Red-State, Blue-State Battle over Abortion Pills California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said last week that his state was cutting ties with Walgreens, including a $54 million contract to provide medications to inmates of the state’s correctional...
Amazon Closes $3.9B One Medical Deal Amazon announced last week that it had closed its $3.9 billion deal to buy One Medical, furthering its efforts to expand its growing medical services business. The tech giant’s announcement came the day after The Wall...
CA to Consider $25 Minimum Wage for Healthcare Workers A bill introduced last week in California ( SB 525 ) would establish a statewide $25 minimum wage for healthcare workers and support staff. The bill would require healthcare facilities and home health agencies...
Flurry of Bills Targeting Vaccine Makers and Mandates: Already this year lawmakers in 18 states have introduced over 80 measures dealing with vaccine policy, according to Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law. Most of...
U.S. Hospital Use of Volunteers May Violate Federal Rules: Volunteer workers have become an integral part of the labor force at hospitals across the country. According to analysis of federal and other data by Kaiser Health News, hospitals may use over $5 billion...
Hospitals Getting Creative to Mitigate Staffing Shortages With contract labor expenses up almost 500 percent from where they were before the pandemic, a growing number of hospital systems are creating in-house staffing systems to help them deal with the nationwide...
Judge Blocks KS Law Banning Telemedicine Abortions A judge in Topeka, Kansas issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a 2011 Kansas law banning telemedicine abortions on a women’s clinic in Wichita, pending a ruling in the associated case...
Medical Bill Financing Adding to Patient Debt Hospitals and other healthcare providers have traditionally offered patients interest-free payment plans to help them manage their medical bills. But providers have increasingly been relying on payment plans provided...
CO Seeks to Reduce Healthcare Costs through Consumer Incentives Colorado has launched an initiative enabling employers in the state to band together to negotiate lower prices for health care. The program also allows employees that choose lower-cost and higher...
Experts Say Shifting COVID-19 Coverage to Private Sector Poses Challenges Transitioning coverage of COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccinations to commercial insurers poses significant challenges, according to experts gathered for a Kaiser Family Foundation...
MI Among Several States Targeting Travel Nurse Pay Rates Michigan is one of at least 15 states considering legislation to cap pay rates for travel nurses. Michigan’s bill ( HB 6364 ), which would prohibit travel nurse agencies from charging hospitals over...
CVS, Walgreens, Amazon Shifting Healthcare Delivery to Homes This month, CVS announced it was buying home healthcare company Signify Health for $8 billion, adding in-home care to its vertically integrated system that already includes health insurance, retail...
Amazon Ending Major Foray into Primary Healthcare Amazon announced last week that it will be ending operation of Amazon Care at the end of the year. The online retail giant piloted the urgent care and primary care service with its employees and their families...
Biden Signs Medicare Drug Pricing Changes into Law Last Tuesday President Biden signed the $700 billion climate change and health care bill passed by congressional Democrats along party lines over the preceding week. In addition to providing $375 billion over...
Hospitals Struggling Financially This Year in WA, Nationwide Washington’s acute care hospitals, which provide inpatient and outpatient care in addition to nursing services, posted a 13 percent, or $929 million, aggregate net loss in the first three months...