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The Joint Commission has eliminated 714 requirements from its accreditation standards in an effort to streamline expectations and improve hospital compliance. The changes will be reflected in the nonprofit accrediting agency’s Accreditation 360 program and are set to go into effect Jan. 1. (DeSilva, 7/18)

Hospitals are steadily buying small physician practices and, in the process, driving up the price of care, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows. It's the latest evidence of consolidation in health care that's left more than three-quarters of U.S. doctors employed by health systems or corporations. (Reed, 7/21)

Prescription drug denials by private insurers in the United States jumped 25 percent from 2016 to 2023, according to a new analysis of more than four billion claims, a practice that has contributed to rising public outrage about the nation’s private health insurance system. The report, compiled for The New York Times by the health analytics company Komodo Health, shows that denial rates rose from 18.3 percent to 22.9 percent. The rejections went up across many major health plans, including the country’s largest private insurer, UnitedHealthcare. (Kliff, 7/18)

Drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics said late Friday it won’t comply with a request from the Food and Drug Administration to halt all shipments of its gene therapy following the death of a third patient receiving one of its treatments for muscular dystrophy. The highly unusual move is a latest in a string of events that have hammered the company’s stock for weeks and recently forced it to lay off 500 employees. The company’s decision not to comply with the FDA also places future availability of its leading therapy, called Elevidys, in doubt. (Perrone, 7/19)

Humana’s bid to get its Medicare Advantage quality scores boosted failed in federal court Thursday, at least for now. The insurer, second in Medicare Advantage market share to UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare, sued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in October, alleging the agency’s metrics are arbitrary and that the lower star rating it received will have a significant impact on its 2026 earnings. (DeSilva, 7/18)

Elon Musk’s health tech company Neuralink labeled itself a “small disadvantaged business” in a federal filing with the U.S. Small Business Administration, shortly before a financing round valued the company at $9 billion. Neuralink is developing a brain-computer interface (BCI) system, with an initial aim to help people with severe paralysis regain some independence. BCI technology broadly can translate a person’s brain signals into commands that allow them to manipulate external technologies just by thinking. (Kolodny, 7/18)

Health systems are learning that investing in digital health companies isn’t for everyone. The way health systems invest in startup companies has transformed as their operating budgets strain from persistent labor costs and a challenging reimbursement climate. These venture arms are giving way to spinoffs, strategic partnerships, incubator models and passive investing strategies, and that could change how the next wave of digital health companies are funded. (Perna, 7/18)

Wendy Horton, CEO of UVA Health’s University Medical Center, and Dr. Melina Kibbe, dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and chief health affairs officer for UVA Health, plan to step down from their positions. Horton will depart the Charlottesville, Virginia-based organization for a role as senior vice president and president of adult care services at UCSF Health in San Francisco, Dr. Mitchell Rosner, interim executive vice president for health affairs, said Friday. She is expected to leave in September. (DeSilva, 7/18)