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Healthcare company bankruptcies soared in 2023 to their highest level in the last five years, according to a report released Thursday by Gibbins Advisors. The advisory firm's report, which looked at Chapter 11 bankruptcy case filings from 2019 to 2023, found 79 healthcare companies with more than $10 million in liabilities filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Pharmaceutical and senior care companies made up nearly half of the list. The next-highest year for bankruptcies was 2019, when 51 companies filed for protection. (Hudson, 1/25)

At least six active lawsuits claim Steward Health Care has not paid vendors for supplies and services in months, totaling over $7.5 million. Plus, the group's landlord, Medical Properties Trust, claims it's owed $50 million. In a news release, it said, "Steward is pursuing several strategic transactions, including the potential sale or re-tenanting of certain hospital operations as well as the divestiture of non-core operations." When WBZ reached out to Steward about hospitals closing, it denied any such closure plans. (Rex, 1/25)

Sungida Rashid gave birth at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in October, and barely a day later she was bleeding to death. The 39-year-old’s heart had already stopped once. Medical teams revived her, but the clock was ticking. Doctors soon identified the problem: a bleed deep within her liver. In the operating room, caregivers had a plan to quickly treat it, but the staff there soon discovered something alarming — the embolism coil doctors could have used to stop the bleeding wasn’t available. Weeks prior, the hospital’s inventory of the devices had been repossessed, according to hospital staff. A company rep from the manufacturer, Penumbra, explained to staff that Steward Health Care, the parent company for St. Elizabeth’s, hadn’t paid the bill. (Bartlett, 1/25)

Good Samaritan is one of nine Massachusetts hospitals owned by Steward Health Care, a for-profit system whose landlord recently revealed hasn’t been paying its full rent for months and would contemplate selling off hospitals nationally. Seventy percent of Steward patients are covered by Medicare and Medicaid and several of its Massachusetts locations are in underserved cities, raising fears that any closures could make access to care harder for the most vulnerable patients. (Coultoff, 1/5)

America’s seniors are going to keep up their elevated use of the medical system throughout the year. That is the message from Humana’s earnings release on Thursday, which is sending stocks of insurance giants sliding. The health insurer plunged over 10% on Thursday morning while competitors UnitedHealth, CVS Health and Centene were all down sharply. All four companies have significant Medicare Advantage businesses that have been facing pressure from slowing growth and tougher scrutiny by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The higher costs, which Humana says it expects will affect the whole industry, are only the latest bit of bad news, one which raises questions about how insurers’ internal modeling could be so off. (Wainer, 1/25)

Humana plans to trim $700 million in administrative expenses after recording a disappointing fourth quarter and 2023, the company announced Thursday. The health insurer warned investors last week that medical costs exceeded expectations in 2023. On Thursday, the company disclosed that expenses were $3 billion more than anticipated. Quarterly and annual earnings didn't meet projections amid rising costs and disadvantageous Medicare Advantage policies. (Tepper, 1/25)

The federal government is suing to block a proposed hospital deal in North Carolina, alleging it would hand control of over 65% of the inpatient market in the region to a single provider. (Bannow, 1/25)

The store closures just keep on coming for Rite Aid following the company’s bankruptcy filing in October 2023. Rite Aid initially announced it would close 154 stores, including four in Ohio, as part of its reorganization under federal bankruptcy protection. This month, Rite Aid announced it would close an additional 55 stores, including nine more in Ohio. Among those nine stores, eight are located in Northeast Ohio. (Mentz, 1/25)

Walgreens has agreed to pay a $275,000 fine to settle allegations that some of its Vermont stores temporarily closed without notice, had untenable working conditions for pharmacists and made medication and vaccination errors during the coronavirus pandemic, the secretary of state announced. The Vermont Board of Pharmacy approved the fine as part of the settlement between the state Office of Professional Regulation and the national pharmacy chain, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas said Wednesday, calling it a “big win for Vermont consumers.” (1/25)

The economics underpinning the company’s core retail business have been eroding. As a result, the company is paradoxically generating record revenues but much smaller profits. CVS has also acknowledged an “unprecedented” labor shortage among pharmacists and other staff, which has led to some customers complaining about longer lines, unanswered phones, and unclean stores. (Lee, 1/25)