Rising costs will slow hospitals’ attempts to rebuild margins to pre-COVID-19 levels, according
to a report by Moody’s.
I’m Emily Olsen with MobiHealthNews, filling it for Jeff Lagasse. We’ll explore that and other
developments in this week’s Top Stories.
A shortage of nurses and other healthcare workers will continue to hurt hospitals’ financial
performance into 2022, according to Moody’s new Healthcare Quarterly report.
Another COVID-19 wave contributed to burnt out nurses leaving hospitals to care for family,
work in less acute settings or pursue higher-paying opportunities, like becoming a travel nurse.
Those shortages are driving up costs, and may be limiting lucrative elective procedures.
Not-for-profit hospitals saw operating cash flow margins fall to a median 7% in 2020, from 8.3%
in the three prior years, according to Moody's median data.
Amazon announced senior living communities and health systems will be able to use the Alexa
voice assistant at scale in their communities starting next month.
Alexa Smart Properties is also used in businesses like hotels, vacation rentals and offices. The
healthcare expansion will allow providers to communicate with patients without needing to enter
their rooms.
Patients can also control devices in their room and get hospital-provided information like the
cafeteria menu or when rounds are supposed to start.
Residents in senior living facilities can more easily call their family members, and their care
teams are able to make community-wide announcements.
Legislators grilled representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs over patient safety
concerns associated with the agency’s EHR modernization effort.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz noted that the VA's first rollout of its new EHR took
place one year ago this month.
The VA had initially planned to go live at 11 sites by the end of 2021.
VA Deputy Secretary Donald Remy said: "Our handling of EHRM to date has failed to live up to
this program's promise for our veterans and our providers."
He added:"I promise I'll be accountable to you and collaborate with you as we move forward."
I’m Emily Olsen with MobiHealthNews, and this has been Top Stories.