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Medical practices in the U.S. continue to face overwhelming regulatory challenges, according to a report published Oct. 11 by the Medical Group Management Association. The 2022 Annual Regulatory Burden Report survey included responses from more than 500 medical group practices. Findings indicate that 89 percent of respondents reported that the overall regulatory burden on their medical practice has increased over the past 12 months. (Tucker, 10/12)

In other health care industry news —

A Pennsylvania judge has temporarily blocked plans by Crozer Health to close its Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill and convert it into a behavioral healthcare facility. (Hudson, 10/12)

City officials and federal regulators reached a settlement in the dispute that would have forced San Francisco’s beleaguered Laguna Honda nursing home to close on Nov. 13 and displace hundreds of medically fragile patients, the sides announced Wednesday. (Asimov, 10/12)

Maryland health officials said Wednesday they will continue their push to outsource services at an aging state-run specialty care hospital in Hagerstown but are no longer taking the unusual approach of seeking approval to spend hundreds of millions of dollars before identifying a bidder and terms of a deal. (Cohn, 10/12)

Robert K. Kraft and the Kraft Family Foundation have donated $50 million to Massachusetts General Hospital to address health care disparities caused by race, ethnicity, geography, and economic status. (Bartlett, 10/12)

The Joint Commission, which sets quality standards and conducts inspections, says patients and their families should rest assured by seeing the shiny emblem it awards. “By earning our Gold Seal,” the commission says on its website, “you’re telling your staff, competitors, community and each and every patient that comes through your doors that you have placed an emphasis on quality of care.” (Teegardin, 10/13)

KHN: Baby, That Bill Is High: Private Equity ‘Gambit’ Squeezes Excessive ER Charges From Routine Births 
Elizabeth Huffner thinks it is obvious: A full-term, healthy pregnancy results in a birth. “When your due date has come and gone, you’re expecting a baby any minute,” Huffner said. So she was surprised to discover she was an “unknown accident” — at least from a billing standpoint — when she went to the hospital during labor. Her bill included a charge for something she said she didn’t know she’d ever entered: an obstetrics emergency department. (Bichell, 10/13)

KHN: As Giant Hospitals Get Bigger, An Independent Doctor Feels The Squeeze
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Andrew Bush treated as many as 1,000 patients every month in his orthopedics practice. Now he worries about going bankrupt. The surgeon is among a dwindling number of independent physicians in the United States, where doctors are selling their practices to behemoth hospital systems or leaving the profession altogether. (Clasen-Kelly, 10/13)