Ardent Health is deploying virtual nurse technology to ease workflow burdens on bedside nurses by offloading routine tasks — and its nurse turnover rate has dropped from 15.5% to 9.5%. The health system is also using virtual specialty consults to enhance care in rural hospitals, cutting unnecessary transfers by 85% and enabling more patients to receive quality care close to home.

The post Virtual Nursing Saves Hospitals Money on Turnover Costs, Ardent Health CMO Says appeared first on MedCity News.

Hospitals saw improved financial performance during the first four months of the year, with operating margins rising to 3.3% thanks to higher patient volumes and more efficient throughput. However, experts warn that hospitals remain financially vulnerable as non-labor expenses continue to rise.

The post Hospitals See Financial Gains Due to Higher Volumes & Improved Throughput appeared first on MedCity News.

Pear Suite recently won the payer/provider technology track of MedCity News’ INVEST Pitch Perfect contest. The startup provides a software platform for community health workers that helps them share data, submit claims and maintain compliance.

The post INVEST Pitch Perfect Spotlight: How Pear Suite Makes Sure Community Health Workers Get Paid appeared first on MedCity News.

If enacted, the GOP’s spending bill could kick more than 10 million Americans off Medicaid. Experts are worried about the major spike in uncompensated care that hospitals would have to provide — and they’re warning that this change will result in major revenue losses for hospitals, facility closures, higher premiums for commercially insured patients, and worse public health.

The post The GOP’s Budget Plan Is a Crisis in the Making for Hospitals appeared first on MedCity News.

Heranova Lifesciences recently launched a noninvasive blood test to diagnose endometriosis. The standard diagnostic method is laparoscopy, which requires anesthesia, followed by histological confirmation. With its blood test, Heranova seeks to replace the diagnostic function of laparoscopy, thus reserving surgical intervention only for therapeutic purposes.

The post How One Startup Is Aiming to Replace Surgery with Its Endometriosis Diagnostic appeared first on MedCity News.

About six months after rolling out voice AI in its call centers, Allina Health is already seeing signs that the tool is doing a good job of improving the patient experience. The technology is reducing patients’ average call times by 5-10 seconds, and 80% of calls are now answered in 45 seconds or less.

The post Allina Health Sees Early Success From Voice AI in Call Centers appeared first on MedCity News.

May has seen a slew of executive hires, exits and layoffs across the healthcare industry. For example, the American Medical Association and TigerConnect named new CEOs, and Google and UnitedHealth Group have seen key executives leave their roles. There were also layoffs at organizations including Devoted Health and New York-Presbyterian.

The post Healthcare Moves: A Monthly Summary of Hires, Exits and Layoffs appeared first on MedCity News.

Medtronic’s move to turn its diabetes division into a separate company allows it to step away from a lower-profit, consumer-oriented segment of its business, while also giving the diabetes unit more room to focus and compete in its own crowded market.

The post Why Is Medtronic Spinning Off Its Diabetes Business? appeared first on MedCity News.

Sanford Health has expanded its virtual care strategy to improve access for rural patients while also supporting better physician training and retention. By combining tech with a new virtual care center, the health system is seeking to deliver more consistent care and address workforce shortages across the Midwest.

The post Why Sanford Health Is All-In on Virtual Care appeared first on MedCity News.

The current prior authorization process in U.S. healthcare constitutes a crisis, according to Jesse Ehrenfeld, immediate past president of the American Medical Association. Prior authorization is wasting clinicians’ time, delaying care and deepening public distrust — yet, payers show little urgency in fixing this problem, he said.

The post Why One Leader Is Calling Out Insurers’ Inaction on Prior Authorization appeared first on MedCity News.

Inaccurate provider data is creating a hidden crisis in healthcare by delaying care and driving up costs for both patients and health plans, according to CAQH CEO Sarah Ahmad. Her organization is working to address the issue by improving how provider data is collected and verified on the front end.

The post Bad Provider Data Is Delaying Care and Driving Up Costs, CAQH CEO Warns appeared first on MedCity News.

Healthcare experts shared key principles that are guiding health system strategy during a panel at MedCity News’ INVEST conference. These leaders believe in flexible, patient-centered engagement strategies, emphasize clinical value as the benchmark for adopting technology, and champion collaboration to scale solutions that deliver proven results.

The post 3 Rules Health Systems Are Living By in 2025 appeared first on MedCity News.

Providers need a revenue cycle management platform that is more affordable and accurate, said Jeremy Delinsky, CEO of Smarter Technologies, during MedCity News’ INVEST conference. New Mountain Capital formed Smarter Technologies this week by combining three separate platforms it had already acquired.

The post How a New PE-Backed RCM Company Plans to Fix the ‘Transactional Bowels of US Healthcare’ appeared first on MedCity News.

To scale clinical AI, vendors must design tools that feel natural and personalized to each doctor — otherwise, clinicians won’t use them, said Heidi Health CEO Tom Kelly. In the crowded AI scribe market, he believes that clinician adoption rates, not flashy integration or deployment speeds, are the true measure of success.

The post How One Startup Is Standing Out in the Crowded AI Scribe Market appeared first on MedCity News.

Ensuring buy-in from end users is critical to hospitals’ AI success. To achieve buy-in, hospitals should start by adopting AI tools that address the problems that physicians and nurses have identified as most important to them, said Rohit Chandra, chief digital officer at Cleveland Clinic.

The post Cleveland Clinic Digital Chief: Pick AI Problems That Clinicians Actually Care About appeared first on MedCity News.

Without trust, the rapid adoption of AI in healthcare could stall, pointed out Joel Gordon, UW Health’s chief medical information officer. He urged healthcare leaders to focus less on flashy rollouts and more on governance, collaboration, and meaningful metrics to ensure AI delivers lasting value.

The post Don’t Let the Floor Fall Out From Under Healthcare AI: Tips from UW Health’s CMIO appeared first on MedCity News.

Israeli cancer diagnostics startup SpotitEarly launched in the U.S. It is developing a test that uses AI and trained canines to analyze patients’ breath samples, with the goal of detecting cancer at its earliest stages. The company plans to begin selling the at-home test to U.S. consumers next year.

The post Meet the Startup Using Dogs to Sniff Out Cancer appeared first on MedCity News.

Cohere Health raked in $90 million in Series C capital, taking its total funding to date to $200 million. This round of funding cements Cohere as the emerging winner in the prior authorization tech category, according to Michael Greeley, general partner at Flare Capital Partners.

The post Cohere Health Snags $90M to Automate the Much-Maligned Prior Authorization Process appeared first on MedCity News.

During a panel at the Reuters Digital Health conference in Nashville, health system executives shared what they’ve learned about navigating change in tech pilots. In their view, success is determined by cultural readiness, frontline staff buy-in and a clear-eyed view of what success looks like.

The post What Hospitals Have Learned About Change Management in Digital Health appeared first on MedCity News.

UPMC Enterprises and Redesign Health launched a new startup named Glimmer Health. The company partners with primary care providers to improve pain management using a personalized, holisitic approach.

The post UPMC Enterprises, Redesign Health Launch New Startup for Chronic Pain Patients appeared first on MedCity News.

Riverside Health is reporting an increase in revenue and net margins as a result of adopting Abridge’s ambient AI technology. The tool listens to doctor-patient interactions and generates clinical notes — which not only alleviates physicians’ burnout, but also improves their documentation accuracy. The Virginia-based health system saw a 14% increase in HCC diagnoses documented per encounter.

The post How One Health System Drove Revenue Gains with Ambient Listening appeared first on MedCity News.

Teal Health received FDA approval for the first-ever at-home cervical cancer test, which seeks to give patients an alternative to the in-office pap smear. The test is already covered by four major payers in California.

The post FDA Approves First At-Home Cervical Cancer Test appeared first on MedCity News.

Trust in the U.S. healthcare system is eroding, but experts say rebuilding it is possible. They say this will require both payers and providers to prioritize empathy, transparency and personalized communication.

The post Americans’ Trust in the Healthcare System Is Plummeting. How Can It Be Repaired? appeared first on MedCity News.

Cedars-Sinai and Redesign Health launched a new innovation center seeking to build digital health startups from the ground up. These startups will focus on four main areas: care access, personalized medicine, provider workflows and care coordination.

The post Cedars-Sinai, Redesign Health Launch New Digital Health Startup Builder appeared first on MedCity News.

Experts say the fallout from HHS’ restructuring could set public health efforts back by decades by dismantling critical infrastructure. It’s also important to note that these changes cast serious doubt on the future of interoperability, pointed out Jason Prestinario, CEO of data platform Particle Health.

The post What Does HHS’ Restructuring Mean for Interoperability In Healthcare? appeared first on MedCity News.

Hospitals’ costs are climbing steadily — driven by chronic underpayments from payers, growing administrative requirements and increasing labor costs, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association.

The post Hospitals’ Costs Are Soaring: 3 Stats to Know appeared first on MedCity News.

Digital health startups across the globe raised $5 billion during the first quarter of this year — which is the highest quarterly investment total the space has seen since the second quarter of 2022.

The post Digital Health Funding Is Bouncing Back: 3 Things to Know appeared first on MedCity News.

German medical device company seca released the first portable body composition scanner designed for primary care. The scanner seeks to give primary care providers a more accurate picture of their patient’s health, as well as help them spot certain conditions — such as sarcopenia, obesity and metabolic disorders — earlier.

The post Seca Launches First Portable Body Composition Scan for Primary Care appeared first on MedCity News.

April has seen a slew of executive hires, exits and layoffs across the healthcare industry. For example, AdventHealth and DexCare both named new CEOs, and Crozer Health and UNC Health have undergone CEO exits. There were also layoffs at organizations including Aetna, Sanford Health and Caribou Biosciences.

The post Healthcare Moves: A Monthly Summary of Hires, Exits and Layoffs appeared first on MedCity News.

During a recent panel, hospital leaders discussed how they approach the balancing act between innovation and financial sustainability. They shared tactics such as reassessing vendor contracts, leaning into existing tech capabilities and finding creative ways to support patients without compromising margins.

The post Hospitals Leaders Share How They’re Balancing Finance, Innovation and Patient Care appeared first on MedCity News.