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Inpatient rehabilitation facilities, hospice providers and inpatient psychiatric hospitals will receive modest Medicare reimbursement increases in fiscal 2026 under final rules the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Friday. Medicare payments for inpatient rehab facilities will rise 2.6% when the fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Hospice providers got a 2.6% payment update. The regulation also requires that face-to-face encounter attestations must include signatures and dates from the clinicians present. (Early, 8/1)

Rising healthcare costs and declining reimbursement rates are forcing hospitals to rethink how they operate and deliver care. High pharmaceutical, labor and administrative expenses coupled with looming Medicaid and Medicare cuts mandated by the new tax law are dragging hospital finances. As a result, providers are implementing new technology, tweaking their staffing models and retooling supply chain operations to try to eke out savings before reimbursement reductions and an expected decline in Medicaid enrollment hit, health system executives said. (Kacik, 8/1)

The era of generative artificial intelligence in healthcare has led to the industry’s growing use of agentic AI technology. The tools use AI models to complete time-intensive functions usually done by humans. While regular generative AI models focus on creating new content, agentic AI tools are programmed to autonomously make decisions and achieve specific goals. Big tech companies such as Epic, Amazon, Salesforce and Microsoft have developed them for use in healthcare settings, as have dozens of startups. (Perna, 8/1)

UnitedHealth Group has named Wayne DeVeydt as its next chief financial officer in another major leadership change. He will replace John Rex, who will become the strategic advisor to CEO Stephen Hemsley, on Sept. 2, according to a Thursday news release from the company. DeVeydt was most recently the managing director and operating partner at Bain Capital. He was previously CEO and chair of Surgery Partners and, prior to that, the CFO for Anthem, now known as Elevance Health. (DeSilva, 8/1)

The North Carolina Supreme Court has granted Mission Hospital’s request for a temporary stay of a lower court’s decision to grant 67 acute care beds to AdventHealth nearly three years ago. (Jones, 8/2)

Three new centers are part of the PACE expansion in Ohio funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars. (Eastabrook, 8/1)