Chief Healthcare Executive’s Post

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It's sometimes difficult to separate hype from reality about AI in healthcare. We talked with Dr. Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, a leader in healthcare technology, and Vinitha Ramnathan of NRC Health about AI, its potential, and why it must be used and developed thoughtfully. "We're really at an inflection point in the industry, where we have to be mindful that we are in the humanity business. Healthcare is nothing but the business of humanity," Nayyar says.

For the first time, Prime Healthcare has named a president, and the system has chosen Sunny Bhatia, MD, MMM, FACHE, FACC, FSCAI to serve in that role. He served as the system's chief medical officer for years. He takes the post shortly after Prime announced a deal to acquire nine hospitals in Illinois from the Ascension system. "It’s my honor and privilege to serve and expand Prime Healthcare’s mission to preserve and improve community hospitals across our nation," Bhatia says.

As more hospitals are closing their labor and delivery units, maternity care deserts are becoming more common, according to a new March of Dimes report. More than 100 hospitals nationwide have closed their obstetric units over the past two years.

Hospitals have made important strides in patient safety, and health systems are actually performing better than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association. For the report, Vizient, Inc examined infections and other patient safety and quality measures between 2019 and 2024. Chris DeRienzo, MD, MPP, chief physician executive of the American Hospital Association, says the analysis underscores important progress for patients. "The evidence is clear that hospitalized patients are even safer today than they were in 2019," he says.

Hospitals are having more success filling openings, but their labor challenges aren't behind them yet, according to a new Fitch Ratings report. We talked with Kevin Holloran and Richard Park of Fitch Ratings about the hospital labor market and some of the persistent difficulties for many providers.

This week, Orlando Health secured the approval of a bankruptcy court judge to acquire three Florida hospitals from Steward Health Care. Orlando Health plans to take over three hospitals on Florida's Space Coast: Rockledge Regional Medical Center, Melbourne Regional Medical Center, and Sebastian River Medical Center. The system is pledging to deliver a new era of patient care in those communities.

In their first debate, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump clashed over the Affordable Care Act, abortion rights, and state abortion laws affecting doctors. The exchanges on healthcare provided some of the most intense and memorable moments of the debate in Philadelphia.

Women are more likely than men to delay going to a doctor or skip a healthcare visit, according to a new analysis from Deloitte. We talked with Kulleni Gebreyes of Deloitte about some of the reasons women are skipping or delaying healthcare, and what hospitals and health systems can do about it. As she says, "One big reason that we're seeing women defer care is because they just simply can't afford it.”