August 27, 2025

The 340B Program, Explained

More than three decades ago, Congress created the 340B program to help safety-net hospitals and clinics expand resources and care for underserved communities.

By requiring pharmaceutical companies to offer deep discounts on outpatient drugs, the program has become a hallmark resource to help health systems support vulnerable patients. In recent years, however, the program has drawn scrutiny from federal lawmakers as several drug makers have introduced alternative rebate and drug pricing models, raising questions about the direction of the program.

Hospitals have also faced increased scrutiny in recent years over how they are utilizing 340B savings. This intensified after a Senate report published in April found some of the largest health systems were exploiting the system. According to the report, Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health and Cleveland Clinic generated hundreds of millions of dollars by acquiring discounted drugs and then charged patients significantly higher prices. Both health systems defended their participation in the 340B program, telling Becker’s they operated the program in compliance with federal rules.

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August 27, 2025

Urban Hospitals Increasingly Poaching Rural Funds

A regulatory loophole has allowed hundreds of large, urban hospitals to claim rural benefits, raining alarms from lawmakers and experts who warn that taxpayer dollars are being diverted from the very communities Congress intended to protect.

In 2016, CMS revised its regulations in response to two federal court decisions: Geisinger Community Medical Center v. Secretary and Lawrence and Memorial Hospital v. Burwell. The rule change effectively permitted hospitals to use a two-step reclassification process to be designated as both urban and rural for Medicare purposes, a practice CMS had previously prohibited.

The impact was immediate.

According to a study published in Health Affairs in August, the number of urban hospitals claiming rural status jumped from just three in 2017 to 425 in 2023. The number o hospital beds in dual-classified facilities skyrocketed from fewer than 400 in 2017 to more than 162,000 in 2023, representing 61% of all beds in administratively rural hospitals nationwide.

More than 75% were nonprofit organizations, and all of the top 20 highest-revenue facilities with dual status were teaching hospitals, with net patient revenues ranging from $2.9 billion to more than $9 billion. New York City-based New York Presbyterian Hospital, with 2,850 beds and nearly $9.3 billion in patient revenue, topped the list.

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August 27, 2025

Seven Questions Health System CEOs are Grappling with Now

Summer of 2025 was an unusual one for health system leaders across the country that, in many ways, seemed to move both slowly and abruptly at once. Here are seven of the many questions that health system CEOs are facing as the season winds down and the effects of one massive piece of federal legislation begin to take shape.

7 Questions Health System CEOs are Grappling With

• What’s the real financial hit to my system?
• How much influence do health systems have?
• What’s an OBBBA reaction versus a change I’d need to make anyway?
• How do CEOs lead when decline comes drip by drip?
• In the near-term, what happens when ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire?
• What do physician and labor shortages look like now?
• What costs are hidden or harder to see?

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August 27, 2025

Whitepaper: Three Ways to Improve Cybersecurity Amid Healthcare’s Cyber Crisis

Recently, a wave of cyberattacks forced healthcare executives to reckon with an uncomfortable truth: traditional cybersecurity strategies are no longer enough.

This report from Advisory Board shares how more than 10 experts – from provider organizations and digital health firms to consulting leaders – are redefining what cyber resilience means in an era of third-party interdependence

It outlines a strategic shift from reactive defense to collaborative, systemwide resilience – and the practical steps leaders are taking to manage operational risk, strengthen contracts and reduce exposure across complex networks.

Download the report to learn:

• Ways that health systems are reassessing third-party vendor contracts and performance metrics,
• Tactics to improve communication with partners and regulators to contain risk, and
• Examples of resilience-driven models that ensure continuity during cyber incidents

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August 25, 2025

Whitepaper: Care More, Code Less – How to Navigate CMS Updates

Recent CMS changes removed over 2,000 diagnostic codes and introduced 200-plus that don’t map to reimbursement under previous rules. For health systems and ACOs, missing these changes can translate into massive revenue losses and poor risk scoring.

Health systems like Community Health Network have responded decisively. By embedding hierarchical condition category (HCC) alerts into its EHR workflows, the organization added more than $13 million to their bottom line. Bellin Health raised its risk adjustment factor (RAF) score by 16%. Bon Secours Mercy Health documented over 35,000 HCCs in just six months.

This report details how systems are operationalizing HCC accuracy amid shifting CMS rules – with proven returns.

Download for real-world lessons on:

• Avoiding missed reimbursement under CMS’ new coding structure,
• Embedding EHR-based HCC alerts to boost risk scores, and
• Discover how health systems boost risk adjustment and reimbursement with streamlined HCC coding.

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August 25, 2025

The Next Major Workforce Crisis Systems are Tackling

Health systems are taking on what one leader has called the “next major workforce crisis”: a shortage of nurse educators.

In 2024, U.S. nursing schools turned away 80,162 qualified applications. Within that total,

• 65,398 applications from entry-level baccalaureate were turned away,
• 1,530 from RN-to BSN,
• 7,603 from master’s,
• 5,366 from DNP, and
• 265 from PhD nursing programs.

There’s never been a shortage of qualified applicants,” Carolyn Santora, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer and chief regulatory officer at Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital, told Becker’s. “The bottleneck has been a shortage of faculty, limiting class sizes.

The aging nurse faculty workforce is a key challenge for some of these programs. The average age of nursing faculty in four-year programs is in the 60s, Susan Reeves, EdD, RN, system chief nurse executive at Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth Health, told Becker’s.

“Many will retire soon, and there aren’t enough younger educators ready to replace them,” she said. “Compounding this, new nursing graduates often earn more in practice than faculty with decades of experience. This is shaping up to be our next major workforce crisis.”

To address these issues, health systems are taking up the torch to support education opportunities for nursing students and new nurses. This looks different at every system.

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