The Gist Healthcare Podcast

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considering updates to how it calculates Medicare Advantage star ratings. The United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to a zero percent pharmaceutical tariff. The House passes legislation to extend the hospital-at-home waiver. Hear more on today’s episode of The Gist Healthcare Podcast.

On today’s Gist Healthcare Podcast: Medicare Part B premiums rise 10 percent next year, the White House is in talks about extending ACA enhanced tax credits, and a federal judge signs off on Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan tied to the opioid crisis.

Following recent improvements in surgical outcomes, hospitals are now confronting new challenges tied to patient complexity, post-acute care access, and workforce capacity.   In this episode, Chris DeRienzo, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive for the American Hospital Association, discusses findings from the latest Vizient and AHA analysis, including how delayed discharges and administrative demands affect care delivery. The conversation also looks at what hospitals are doing to sustain safety gains amid increasing acuity and staffing pressures.  You can listen to the first half of the conversation here.  

On today’s Gist Healthcare Podcast: The government shutdown ends without an agreement to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits. Canada loses its measles elimination status, signaling renewed public health risks. And the Trump Administration seems likely to extend telehealth flexibilities that allow clinicians to prescribe controlled substances without an in-person visit.

On today’s Gist Healthcare Podcast: The Senate passes a spending bill to end the government shutdown without extending Affordable Care Act subsidies. The FDA plans to remove black box warnings from hormone replacement therapies for menopause. And UnitedHealthcare pulls back coverage for remote patient monitoring.

A new analysis from Vizient and the American Hospital Association shows that outcomes for hospitalized surgical patients have improved in recent years.   In this episode, Chris DeRienzo, Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive for the AHA, discusses the data behind those findings and what may be contributing to the changes. The conversation looks at how hospitals are managing increasingly complex patients while maintaining gains in safety and quality.