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When Congress went on its winter break before Christmas, it left much of its healthcare business—along with most of it other responsibilities for 2023—unfinished, and now faces an intense scramble to get it all done in just weeks. At the top of the healthcare list is funding programs that depend on annual appropriations for the Health and Human Services Department, which like the rest of the government is running on the latest stopgap funding bill enacted since fiscal 2023 ended Sept. 30. In addition, numerous health-related programs and initiatives expired and are also operating on a short-term lifeline. (McAuliff, 12/21)

Odds are, you’ve gotten at least one of the unnerving letters in your mailbox this year: “We’re writing to inform you of a cybersecurity incident,” it might start. It’s the standard notice many health care organizations are required to provide when your protected health information gets exposed — and in 2023, data leaks, hacks, and mishandling led more of them to be delivered than ever before. (Palmer, 12/21)

While record funding in 2021 and 2022 launched companies to new heights, 2023 will be remembered as the year some of them came crashing down to earth. “There are many, many organizations that just tried and failed at providing a solution,” said Peter Micca, national health tech leader at professional services firm Deloitte. But Micca said this doesn't dampen his enthusiasm for the sector at all. "I'm incredibly bullish on the future of health and innovation." (Turner, 12/21)

As we enter the fifth year of this challenging decade, life finally appears to be inching toward normal — a new normal — on the infectious diseases front. Humans and the SARS-CoV-2 virus seem to be making progress toward a detente with each other. Covid is still a major disruptor, a significant cause of illness and death. But the massive disease waves of the early 2020s have calmed down. Masks, in the main, have disappeared. Holiday parties are back. Covid is falling out of the headlines. (Branswell, 12/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What The Health?' Podcast: 2023 Is A Wrap 

Even without covid dominating the headlines, 2023 was a busy year for health policy. The ever-rising cost of health care remained an issue plaguing patients and policymakers alike, while millions of Americans lost insurance coverage as states redetermined eligibility for their Medicaid programs in the wake of the public health emergency. (12/21)