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Mission Hospital has been officially informed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that it is in “immediate jeopardy” related to deficiencies in care, according to an internal email obtained by Asheville Watchdog. The finding is the most severe sanction possible for a hospital and starts a 23-day clock for Mission to produce a plan for fixing the problems or risk losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding. (Jones, 2/6)

Western Wisconsin residents are on the verge of losing many of their local health care facilities, sending lawmakers into panic mode. Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden, R-Eau Claire, sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers Monday to call for state and federal resources to cushion the blow from the upcoming closures of hospitals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls operated by the Hospital Sisters Health System's Sacred Heart (HSHS), and Prevea Health's 19 facilities across the Chippewa Valley. (Swanson, 2/5)

More than a half million Californians won’t need to find new doctors, change their health plans or pay higher out-of-network medical fees after hospital chain UC Health and insurer Anthem Blue Cross settled a dispute over a new contract. “UC Health has reached a fair agreement with Anthem Blue Cross that will allow UCSF Health physicians, hospitals and clinics to remain in Anthem’s provider network,” the health care provider announced on Monday. (Cabanatuan, 2/5)

UCSF Health has confirmed that its $100 million deal to acquire two struggling San Francisco community hospitals is just weeks away from closing. ... UCSF Health officials say the intent is to bring diversified care choices to consumers by investing in two underused hospitals that will augment UCSF Health’s academic medical system with community-based services. (Ho and Waxmann, 2/5)

The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy has denied Nuvance Health’s application to terminate labor and delivery services at Sharon Hospital, according to a final decision published Monday. (Golvala, 2/5)

Colorado hospitals saw a significant dip in profits in 2022, according to a new report, confirming what scattered financial filings have previously hinted at. One state health official called the downturn an “aberration” and said it shouldn’t be used by hospitals to justify substantial increases in prices, while the Colorado Hospital Association pushed back and said hospitals’ financial outlook remains dreary. (Ingold, 2/6)

Prospect Medical Holdings has agreed to sell Crozer Health to a nonprofit organization as part of a court-approved deal. The private equity company announced its plans to offload Crozer in October 2023. On Thursday, Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Cheryl L. Austin ordered a 270-day pause in ongoing litigation against Prospect Medical Holdings while it finds a buyer. The court order also approves the terms set out in a letter of agreement signed by representatives from Prospect and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office limiting purchasers to nonprofit corporations. (DeSilva, 2/5)

Private Medicare just isn’t the gold mine it once was. Case in point: Cano Health, a company once valued at $4.4 billion, is now bankrupt. The prospect of bankruptcy had stalked the Miami-based primary care provider for well over a year before its Chapter 11 filing on Sunday. (Bannow, 2/5)

The financial decline of Steward Health Care may serve as a cautionary tale for health systems and other providers considering private equity investment. At its peak, the Dallas-based for-profit national hospital chain operated 37 hospitals across 10 states. But over the past year, Steward, whose private equity owner exited four years ago, has sold five Utah hospitals and closed or announced plans to close hospitals in Texas and Massachusetts. It also faces lawsuits from vendors and fraud allegations from the Justice Department. (Kacik, 2/5)

Hospitals intensely lobbying to stop a bipartisan measure that would trim their Medicare payments are emphasizing how the policy may hobble already struggling rural hospitals. The hospitals' argument is apparently resonating in the Senate — raising further doubts about whether Congress can overcome pressure from a politically powerful lobby to enact modest Medicare savings. (Sullivan, 2/5)

Home care providers are split on whether the Labor Department’s fines against the industry for wage violations could force more business closures or attract more workers to the high-demand sector. As more care moved into the home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the department’s Wage and Hour Division targeted home care and home health providers in 2021 for overtime infractions, worker misclassification and other violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Eastabrook, 2/5)

Nonprofit health insurance company Medica has laid off 162 employees. The job cuts represent about 6% of Medica's workforce of roughly 3,000 staff members. Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Medica declined to provide details on specific positions affected, but a company spokesperson said Monday the layoffs were spread across its offices and staff received severance packages and outplacement assistance. (Berryman, 2/5)

GoFundMe started as a crowdfunding site for underwriting “ideas and dreams,” and, as GoFundMe’s co-founders, Andrew Ballester and Brad Damphousse, once put it, “for life’s important moments.” In the early years, it funded honeymoon trips, graduation gifts, and church missions to overseas hospitals in need. Now GoFundMe has become a go-to for patients trying to escape medical-billing nightmares. One study found that, in 2020, the number of U.S. campaigns related to medical causes—about 200,000—was 25 times higher than the number of such campaigns on the site in 2011. (Rosenthal, 2/5)