Joint Commission Unveils Streamlined Accreditation Process
The Joint Commission this week launched Accreditation 360: The New Standard, its new approach to healthcare accreditation and certification, which promises to streamline and simplify the accreditation process. This includes removing 714 requirements from the hospital accreditation program and making standards available online and searchable by the public.
OSHA Proposes Changes to Respiratory Protection Rules
On July 1, OSHA took significant steps at deregulation by proposing changes to medical evaluation requirements in the respiratory protection standard.
OSHA Takes First Steps at Deregulation
On July 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) took its first steps at deregulation, publishing one final rule and many proposals.
Why the Hospital at Home Concept Won’t Be Going Away
Hospital at Home receives support from a waiver that enabled health systems and hospitals following the CMS model to receive Medicare reimbursement. That waiver is due to expire in September, and while there’s a strong lobbying effort to make it permanent, many hospital executives have said the program has proven its value and will go on regardless.
Tariffs and the Healthcare Supply Chain: Dealing with Uncertainty
It’s been a wild ride for organizations across all industries observing the rise and fall of tariffs in 2025. Most supply chain leaders simply don’t have informed answers, while resource-strapped healthcare organizations are scrambling to try to work with their suppliers to identify risks and potential impacts.
Congress Eyes Reimbursement Boost for Rural RPM Programs
While adoption rates are growing for remote patient monitoring (RPM), rural and remote providers are holding back, due in large part to low Medicare reimbursement. A new bill before Congress aims to change that.
A Crucial Year for Value-Based Care in Medicaid
This year marks a pivotal moment for Medicaid, its enrollees, and the clinicians who serve them. The joint federal-state program is facing significant challenges from the current Trump administration, which has proposed substantial budget cuts to Medicaid for both fiscal and political reasons.
An Unsettled Healthcare Environment Puts Focus on Enterprise Risk Management
Even during “normal” times, predicting the future is a dicey business. The breakneck pace of actions taken in the first weeks of the Trump presidency only makes every glass ball more opaque and puts the onus on healthcare leaders to sharpen their enterprise risk management practices for the challenges ahead.
HHS Layoffs to Further Challenge Provider CEOs, Organizations
The Trump administration’s decision to lay off 10,000 full-time employees, consolidate HHS from 28 divisions to 15, and combine multiple agencies into a unified entity will have major ripple effects that impact hospitals and health system CEOs.
What’s Lost: Trump Whacks Tiny Agency That Works to Make the Nation’s Healthcare Safer
On April 1, the Trump administration slashed the organization that supported that research — the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ — and fired roughly half of its remaining employees as part of a perplexing reorganization of the federal Health and Human Services Department.