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Employer-sponsored health plan costs are expected to rise 9% in 2025, totaling more than $16,000 per employee before cost-saving measures, according to professional services and consulting company Aon. Aon predicts that demand for prescription drugs such as glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists and growth in medical claims for high-cost treatments such as gene and cell therapies are among the main drivers of rising costs for employers. (DeSilva, 8/15)

Health systems have been forced to delay care and forgo revenue as they manage device and drug shortages. More than half of 102 hospitals, health systems and suppliers surveyed had to cancel or reschedule procedures multiple times last year due to product shortages, according to a poll conducted this spring by Premier, a consulting and group purchasing organization. Syringes, IV fluids, saline, aortic balloon catheters and surgical tourniquets are in short supply, providers said. (Kacik, 8/15)

Healthcare company bankruptcy filings are on track to slow in 2024. Twenty-nine healthcare companies, each with liabilities of more than $10 million, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the first half of the year. At that rate, 58 healthcare companies are projected to seek bankruptcy protection this year, which would be a 27% decrease from 2023's 79 cases filed, according to a report published Wednesday by advisory firm Gibbins Advisors. (Hudson, 8/15)

Already under investigation in Congress, a data analytics firm that has helped major health insurers make billions of dollars by reducing reimbursements for medical bills is facing growing scrutiny from Wall Street and in the courts. The firm, MultiPlan, and the insurance companies it serves often collect larger fees when payments to medical providers are far lower than the amount billed. A recent investigation by The New York Times found the approach left some patients with unexpectedly high bills as they were asked to pick up what their plans did not cover. (Hamby, 8/16)

Orlando Health has made an offer to buy bankrupt Steward Health Care’s “Space Coast” Florida properties for $439 million, according to a court document filed Wednesday. The qualified, binding purchase agreement includes Rockledge Regional Medical Center and Melbourne Regional Medical Center, both in Brevard County, and Sebastian River Medical Center in Indian River County. The deal also includes some of Steward’s medical clinics in those areas. (Mayer, 8/15)

A widespread, monthslong contract dispute between UnitedHealthcare and Trinity Health has created a confusing patchwork of disrupted access across multiple states. (Bannow, 8/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Happy 50th, ERISA

In this special episode of “What the Health?”, host and �鶹Ů�� Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner speaks to Larry Levitt of �鶹Ů��, Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and Ilyse Schuman of the American Benefits Council about the history of ERISA and what its future might hold. (Rovner, 8/15)

House and Senate Republicans have floated separate plans to reorganize the National Institutes of Health, but the efforts are unlikely to go anywhere this Congress, say multiple Capitol Hill staffers and other stakeholders. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIH enjoyed bipartisan support from Congress, with year-over-year funding increases and praise for the agency whenever its officials appeared before Congress. (Cohen, 8/15)