Healthcare News of Note: What topics did healthcare finance professionals find of most interest in 2023?

• Workforce makes sense as the most popular topic this year for Healthcare News of Note readers given the results of an August PwC Pulse survey that indicated 82% of healthcare executives saw talent acquisition and retention as the industry’s biggest risk.
• The other topics of most interest to readers were a disparate group but hit on trending healthcare topics, including acquisitions and mergers, private equity deals, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Workforce issues drew the most engagement in HFMA’s Healthcare News of Note blog

Three of the 10 most-read Healthcare News of Note blog posts of 2023 were workforce-related, making it the No. 1 topic sparking blog readers’ interest.

Those stories were:

• The Jan. 30 blog post “100 hospitals receive funding for new physician residency slots” earned strong reader engagement. The story, which reported that CMS awarded 200 Medicare-funded physician residency slots, was particularly relevant at a time when providers anticipated that these shortages — especially in rural areas — would continue.
• The Feb. 20 post “7 hospitals earn a Press Ganey award for outstanding nursing quality” was also one of the most-read articles of the year. The interest in the topic was no surprise at a time when hospitals and other healthcare facilities were coming to grips with the continued nursing shortage.
• A July 21 blog post “Healthcare organizations continue to deal with turnover and workforce shortages” revealed both physicians and nurses were continuing to plan to leave their current organizations. According to KLAS Research survey results revealed in the blog, physicians who indicate they are very likely to leave their organization are, in fact, 15 times more likely to leave compared to those who report being very unlikely to leave. The blog post shared that 36% of hospital nurses responding to an AMN Healthcare survey indicated they would continue working as nurses but seek a new place of employment. 

7 stories round out the top 10 of 2023

Additional topics that piqued reader interest the most in 2023 were a mixed bag and included:

• A July 21 post “Healthcare organizations continue to deal with turnover and workforce shortages” revealed both physicians and nurses were continuing to plan to leave their current organizations. According to KLAS Research survey results reviewed in this blog, physicians who indicate they are very likely to leave their organization are, in fact, 15 times more likely to leave compared to those who report being very unlikely to leave. The blog post also shared that 36% of hospital nurses responding to an AMN Healthcare survey indicated they would continue working as nurses but seek a new place of employment.

• May 8: CVS Health completed the acquisitions of Signify Health and Oak Street Health, expanding its efforts to implement a value-based payment ecosystem focused on holistic care. The blog also provided a May 31 update when Chicago-based Oak Street Health announced plans to expand into four new states.
• April 28: In 2022, healthcare private equity deals reached nearly $90 billion, the second highest on record for such deals, according to Bain & Company’s Global Healthcare Private Equity and M&A Report 2023.
• June 2: 73% of Americans say “the healthcare system is not meeting their needs” in some way, with the length of time to get an appointment the No. 1 reason, according to a report by The Harris Poll and the American Academy of Physician Associates. The next top reasons for dissatisfaction with the healthcare system were “costs strain my/my family’s finances” and “insurance doesn’t cover the cost of enough services.”
• June 16: The economic burden of racial, ethnic and education health inequities was deemed “unacceptably high” by the authors of a study published May 16 in JAMA. The blog quotes a National Institutes of Health news release: “Racial and ethnic health disparities in 2018 cost the U.S. economy $451 billion, a 41% increase from the previous estimate of $320 billion in 2014.”
• Aug. 11: The post on 10 drugs accounting for a large share of Medicare Part D spending grabbed reader interest. According to a July 12 report by KFF that analyzed CMS’s Medicare Part D Spending by Drug data set, gross spending increased from $166 billion in 2018 to $216 billion in 2021.
• Aug. 18: The U.S. Department of Labor sued UMR Inc., the nation’s largest third-party healthcare claims administrator and a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, for denials involving emergency department services and urinary drug screening.
• Sept. 22: We reviewed a Crowe revenue cycle benchmarking analysis that revealed “the 10 best and 10 worst states to operate in for providers collecting healthcare claims.” According to this study, Louisiana was the best state to operate in while South Carolina was the worst.

More to come

The Healthcare News of Note blog will continue to be published regularly during 2024, providing synopses of three articles that HFMA editors believe are important to our readers.

 HFMA bonus content

• Read the Winter issue of hfm magazine, including the cover story “Igniting revenue cycle’s superpower: Patient advocacy,” by Jeni Williams. This article features Larami Oliver, who took over revenue cycle operations for Heart and Vascular Care in Cumming, Georgia, and implemented a proactive approach. Additional original content includes the feature “Payer scorecards hold promise for promoting an enhanced payer-provider equilibrium,” by Eric C. Reese, PhD, hfm managing editor, and the From the Chair column “It’s time to look at what’s working — and what isn’t — in reducing care costs,” by HFMA National Chair Dennis E. Dahlen, FHFMA, MBA, CPA.

• Listen to the Voices in Healthcare Finance episode “The best of 2023 from HFMA’s editorial team,” hosted by Erika Grotto, senior editor.

• Read the Dec. 12 article “House passes bill to codify healthcare price transparency, expand site-neutral payment,” by Nick Hut, senior editor.

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