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For decades, runaway Medicare spending was the story of the federal budget. Now, flat Medicare spending might be a bigger one. Something strange has been happening in this giant federal program. Instead of growing and growing, as it always had before, spending per Medicare beneficiary has nearly leveled off over more than a decade. The trend can be a little hard to see because, as baby boomers have aged, the number of people using Medicare has grown. But it has had enormous consequences for federal spending. Budget news often sounds apocalyptic, but the Medicare trend has been unexpectedly good for federal spending, saving taxpayers a huge amount relative to projections. (Sanger-Katz, Parlapiano and Katz, 9/4)

Congress poured money into the U.S. economy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But for a few hospitals, one of the lifelines that Medicare threw to the medical industry ultimately became another stone around their necks. Medicare flooded hospitals with cash after the virus prompted the Trump administration to halt elective care — a crucial source of revenue — but not all of that money was a giveaway. In fact, $107.3 billion came through advances on Medicare claims that were doled out between April and October of 2020.  (Clason, 9/6)

States will give participating hospitals a fixed payment each year, known as a hospital global budget, under a new 11-year experiment. (Goldman, 9/6)

Much of the growth experienced by Medicare Advantage over the last two decades can be attributed to beneficiaries switching from traditional Medicare to MA, a trend that’s accelerated in recent years, according to a study published today in Health Affairs. (Diamond, 9/5)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will offer as many as eight states up to $12 million each to implement a new payment model designed to improve population health, the agency announced Tuesday. (Kacik, 9/5)

Hospitalizations are rising. Deaths have ticked up. Wastewater samples are picking up the virus, as are labs across the country. “Every single one of those things is showing us that we have increased rates of Covid transmission in our communities,” said Jodie Guest, a professor of epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. While individual cases have become more difficult to track as states are no longer required to report numbers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at-home test use has increased, experts have turned to other tools to track the virus. (Miller, Kopf and Syal, 9/5)

As more people contract Covid-19 again, people have questions on what precautions they should take. How long should someone stay in isolation if they get the coronavirus? What steps can individuals take to prevent transmitting it to others in their household? What if someone has “rebound” symptoms? What should people exposed to someone with Covid-19 do — must they also stay away from others and how often should they be tested? (Hetter, 9/5)

But three studies released since the weekend, along with Moderna's new data, suggest the variant, nicknamed Pirola, isn't so bad — at least for now, said Dr. Eric Topol, professor and executive vice president of Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. "It's been downgraded from a hurricane to not even a tropical storm. We're lucky," Topol said. "This one could have been really bad." (Weintraub, 9/6)

Concern is rising about the Covid-19 variants EG.5 and BA.2.86. In August, EG.5 became the dominant variant in the United States, and the World Health Organization classified it as a “variant of interest,” meaning it has genetic changes that give it an advantage and its prevalence is growing. BA.2.86 is much less widespread, making up only a tiny fraction of cases, but scientists are alarmed by how many mutations it carries. So how worried should people be about these variants? (Smith, 9/5)

As Florida tops 90,000 resident deaths from COVID-19, a late-summer uptick in new cases is continuing, data released Friday documents. According to the state Department of Health, there were 23,503 reported cases during the week that started Aug. 18 and 23,960 during the week that started Aug. 25. Those were the highest numbers of the summer. (Mayer, 9/5)

Moderna’s new Covid vaccine produced a strong immune response against BA.2.86, a highly mutated omicron variant that health officials are watching closely, according to clinical trial data the biotech company released Wednesday. The updated shot produced an 8.7-fold increase in protective antibodies against BA.2.86, which has been detected in small numbers nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously said the strain, also known as “Pirola,” may be more capable of escaping antibodies from earlier infections and vaccinations, but new research also suggests that the variant may be less immune-evasive than feared. (Constantino, 9/6)

Before tossing out any old at-home COVID tests, you might want to check if the expiration date has been extended. People may be rummaging through closets and cupboards for old tests amid a late summer COVID-19 wave — and as insurance coverage and federal assistance for them has lapsed or changed. (Miranda, 9/5)

Everyone has things that, looking back, they would have done differently in the early days of 2020, had they known how the Covid-19 pandemic would tear across the globe. But those regrets may be particularly poignant for global leaders whose actions (or lack thereof) had direct impacts on how Covid-19 spread. Joanne Liu, a professor at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health and former international president of Doctors Without Borders, has some advice for those leaders. (Gaffney, 9/5)

Researchers have published new data in the American Journal of Epidemiology showing that COVID-19 led to shortened life expectancies across the United States and exacerbated existing racial disparities compared to 20 high-income peer countries, a phenomenon the authors called a "disadvantage in longevity.” (Soucheray, 9/5)

Artificial intelligence is increasingly moving into the health care arena and helping to streamline medical processes — including the creation of new drugs. Insilico Medicine, an AI-driven biotech company based in Hong Kong and in New York City, recently announced that its new AI-designed drug for COVID-19 has entered Phase I clinical trials. (Rudy, 9/5)

Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp said on Tuesday its experimental drug failed to meet the primary goal in a mid-stage study for management of widespread muscle pain and tenderness associated with long COVID-19. ... The 63-patient study was designed to monitor the intensity of pain in patients who had long COVID and administered either the drug, TNX-102 SL, or placebo, but the trial failed to show improvement at week 14 of treatment, the company said. (9/5)

President Joe Biden turned up in a mask for the first time in months on Tuesday, a day after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. But the president quickly ditched it during a ceremony honoring an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran, and the two unmasked octogenarians shared a hearty handshake before they parted. The White House had said earlier that Biden, who had tested negative for the virus earlier in the day, would wear a mask indoors, but that he might remove it when standing at a distance from others. (Long, 9/5)

The president was tested for the virus Monday and again Tuesday, and he tested negative both days. He is not experiencing any symptoms, Jean-Pierre said. (Samuels, 9/5)

Citing arguments that masks didn't work to slow the spread of the virus during COVID—which most studies contest—Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance announced plans September 5 to introduce the Freedom to Breathe Act, which would permanently prevent the federal government from reimposing federal mask mandates in the United States. (Reynolds, 9/5)

He ruled out mask mandates, but urged Americans to consider masking if COVID cases surge. (Taylor, 9/4)

New York State is sending masks and COVID-19 rapid tests to school districts that request them for the start of the 2023-24 school year. According to a release sent by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office Tuesday, the state will conduct an outreach survey this week to determine which districts and organizations need masks and test kits. The supplies will then be delivered to the districts for distribution. (Battaglia, 9/5)

Students and staff in one class at a public school in Montgomery County, Maryland, are being told that they must wear masks for the next 10 days after three “or more” people tested positive for COVID-19. (Ryan, 9/6)

A late summer COVID surge is prompting some school districts to reinstate safety measures, as they try to protect student and teacher health without risking further disruptions to learning. Widespread school closings are a non-starter, and officials in red and blue states also insist broad mask mandates won't return. But, in a flashback to the dark days of the pandemic, some districts in consultation with local health officials have reinstated limited masking and other precautions as COVID cases and hospitalizations rise. (Bettelheim and Goldman, 9/6)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted doctors Tuesday about a rise in severe cases of RSV among young children in Florida and Georgia. Regional increases have usually predicted the beginning of RSV season nationally, the CDC wrote in its advisory, "with increased RSV activity spreading north and west over the following 2–3 months." (Edwards, 9/5)

This fall, infectious diseases pose a triple threat. A potent flu virus, resurgent COVID-19 and rebounding RSV are combining to prompt new warnings in Colorado about the coming seasons when all three will be circulating. Based on case rates in Australia, UCHealth experts are predicting higher-than-average rates here for all three viruses. And flu season is arriving early. (Frank, 9/5)

The recently approved RSV vaccines have been celebrated as key public health tools, but some vaccine experts have lamented one aspect of the trials that led to their approval — namely, that older adults were largely left out of them. (Joseph, 9/5)

Narcan, the nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, is hitting store shelves this month for the first time as an over-the-counter medication — a milestone in the fight against the nation’s overdose crisis. Manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions said last week that it has shipped hundreds of thousands of the two-spray kits, at a suggested retail price of $44.99. Major retailers such as CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Walmart say the kits will be available on shelves in coming days. Companies are also selling the sprays online. (Ovalle, 9/5)

Narcan, the opioid overdose-reversal drug, is expected to be available for over-the-counter purchase as early as this week — a move public health experts say is crucial to ending the opioid crisis. As the medication becomes more accessible, here’s what you need to know about who should carry Narcan and how to use it. (Mohammed, 9/5)

Amid the ongoing fentanyl crisis, the California legislature is considering an East Bay lawmaker's proposal to cap the cost of overdose-reversing drug naloxone to $10 or less. Assembly Bill 1060 by Asm. Liz Ortega would require MediCal and private insurers to cover the cost of over the counter naloxone, also known as Narcan. (9/5)

With the rise in fentanyl overdoses on San Francisco streets, the City is rolling out a public information program to help residents know when to call 911. It's part of an effort to offer mental health and addiction response without involving law enforcement. (Ramos, 9/5)

A flood of counterfeit prescription pills has added to record levels of drug overdose deaths in the US, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC said the number of deaths from fake pills, principally sold as opioid painkillers or the tranquilizer Xanax, more than doubled across the US between mid-2019 and the end of 2021, and tripled in western states such as Alaska, Utah and New Mexico. (McGreal, 9/6)

In recent years, the opioid epidemic has been worsened by the advent of street fentanyl, an illicit version of a powerful prescription painkiller. But experts now warn that the threat posed by fentanyl may ultimately pale in comparison to the emergence of an even more dangerous type of synthetic opioid that's now tainting the illegal drug supply: nitazenes. That's because a new investigation finds nitazenes are 1,000 times more potent than morphine, which makes them 10 times more power than fentanyl. (Mozes, 9/5)

A 16-fold increase in the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection during pregnancy in the United States is linked to the opioid epidemic in a recent cross-sectional study of more than 70 million hospital maternity admissions between 1998 and 2018.The investigators indicate that they conducted the study to add to previously scarce data on HCV infection during pregnancy and bring some clarity to conflicting reports on the role of HCV in pregnancy and perinatal outcomes. (Bender, 9/4)

Primary care physicians affiliated with large health systems drive up spending on patient care through increased referrals to specialists, emergency department visits and hospitalizations, per a study led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The findings in JAMA Health Forum are the latest to challenge claims by the hospital industry that consolidation leads to economies of scale that result in less spending. (Reed, 9/5)

Physician compensation is on the rise as provider organizations try to attract more doctors in a tight labor environment. ... To recruit more physicians, providers are turning to higher base salaries, in addition to sweetening the deal with signing bonuses or educational opportunities. Productivity remains the largest factor in calculating total compensation, but employers are also incorporating quality metrics. (Hudson, 9/5)

Pennsylvania on Tuesday became the latest state to join the nurse licensure compact, which is expected to aid Pennsylvania providers' efforts to recruit nurses. Its addition means there are 41 states and territories that allow registered, licensed practical and vocational nurses to practice in those areas without obtaining individual state licenses. Nurses who have a multistate compact license will be able to immediately start working in Pennsylvania. As a result, health systems and other provider organizations can more easily send nurses where they are needed, expedite the licensure and onboarding process and recruit nurses from more states. (Kacik, 9/5)

Saint Luke’s East Hospital is in the midst of a major renovation and expansion project that will increase the medical center’s square footage by almost 10%, while renovating around 8% of the current space at the Lee’s Summit campus. “The addition will add capacity to existing programs such as general surgery, oncology, orthopedics and OB-GYN, as well as allow us to bring new programs to the campus, such as vascular and thoracic services,” said CEO of Saint Luke’s South and East Region Bobby Olm-Shipman. (Phelan, 9/6)

Two major health-focused projects in Bentonville are making progress, with one set to open next fall. The Whole Health Institute and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine — separate entities founded by Alice Walton — are under construction near Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The institute is a nonprofit organization that's already up and running, just without its permanent brick-and-mortar home. (Golden, 9/5)

“Lots of scrambling on the ground.” That’s how Consuelo Wilkins, the senior associate dean for health equity and inclusive excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, describes medical schools’ current efforts to maintain diversity in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action based on race. (Merelli, 9/6)

A Fort Myers oncologist and former president of Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in what authorities say was a scheme to limit cancer-care competition in Southwest Florida. William Harwin pleaded guilty Aug. 23 to “conspiracy to allocate oncology treatments,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. (9/5)

Officials at the regulatory board say they can only estimate the number of errors because pharmacies are not required to report them. Most of the mistakes that California officials have discovered, according to citations issued by the board and reviewed by The Times, occurred at chain pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens, where a pharmacist may fill hundreds of prescriptions during a shift, while juggling other tasks such as giving vaccinations, calling doctors’ offices to confirm prescriptions and working the drive-through. (Petersen, 9/5)

Georgia can resume enforcing a ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender people under 18, a judge ruled Tuesday, putting her previous order blocking the ban on hold after a federal appeals court allowed Alabama to enforce a similar restriction. Attorneys for the state had asked Judge Sarah Geraghty to vacate the preliminary injunction in light of the Alabama decision. (Thanawala, 9/5)

Ten years ago, state Rep. Kent Haden’s rural northeastern Missouri district had a thriving medical community. Dozens of doctors and hundreds of nurses and other staff lived and spent money in the area, while working at two hospitals in Mexico and Fulton. But that all changed when a private equity-backed startup bought the hospitals and shut them down in 2022. Not only did the area lose two of its largest employers, but Haden’s community lost much of its medical care. (Ujiyediin, 9/6)

State officials on Tuesday announced a one-time $5 million subsidy that will help thousands of paraeducators across the state pay health insurance bills this year that are not covered under local school district health plans. (Altimari, 9/5)

Nearly 30 years ago, a group of hygienists, school nurses, and dentists in greater Derry grew concerned that students were coming to school with such painful tooth decay they were missing class. If kids weren’t getting to the dentist, they asked, could dental care come to kids? (Timmins, 9/5)

Nearly 100 neighborhood representatives in D.C. signed a letter sent to city leaders Tuesday decrying the operations at the city’s 911 center and calling for more transparency. “These chronic problems have diminished residents’ faith in our city’s emergency response system, and in your ability, as city leaders, to resolve them,” the letter said. (Davies and Diaz, 9/5)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Even In The Most Depressed County In America, Stigma Around Mental Illness Persists 

Sitting on a bench laughing with a co-worker during a morning smoke break, Debra Orcutt quickly raises her hand when asked if she knows anyone dealing with depression. “I am,” she tells a visitor to the roadside market where she bakes brownies and peanut butter fudge. Orcutt, 63, has used medication to manage her depression for more than two decades since her son, Kyle, died at age 4 from a congenital illness. “There were days I couldn’t leave the house,” she said. (Galewitz, 9/6)

One by one, doctors who handle high-risk pregnancies are disappearing from Idaho — part of a wave of obstetricians fleeing restrictive abortion laws and a hostile state legislature. Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, a family doctor who also delivers babies in the tiny mountain town of McCall, is among those left behind, facing a lonely and uncertain future. When caring for patients with pregnancy complications, Dr. Gustafson seeks counsel from maternal-fetal medicine specialists in Boise, the state capital two hours away. But two of the experts she relied on as backup have packed up their young families and moved away, one to Minnesota and the other to Colorado. (Stolberg, 9/6)

Voters in Virginia will decide control of the state’s legislature this fall, choosing to cement the state’s Democratic “brick wall” against abortion restrictions or clear a path for Republicans to enact a 15-week ban championed by the state’s governor, Glenn Youngkin. Every seat in the state’s legislature will be up for grabs this November, setting up an expensive and narrow fight that will likely come down to just a handful of competitive seats. (Barclay, 9/5)

When Wes Adams’ youngest son was little, he’d sometimes toddle over to the TV, pop in a cassette, and watch himself being born. It was a home video, filmed by his older brother. There was his mother, her belly anesthetized but her head very much awake, asking the doctors to keep the incision small, please. There was his dad’s medical partner, making the cut for the C-section. And there was his dad, an OB-GYN, helping to maneuver him, slick and bawling, out into the world. (Boodman, 9/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute’ 

This week on the �鶹Ů�� Health News Minute: Students in California prepare for college life in states with restrictive abortion laws, and funds may be on the way to help train Americans caring for aging loved ones at home. (9/5)

The Capitol’s top doctor told Mitch McConnell on Tuesday that “there is no evidence” he suffered a stroke or has a seizure disorder following his public freeze in Kentucky last week. Capitol physician Brian Monahan outlined extensive outside medical evaluations of McConnell after the episode, in which the Senate minority leader stopped talking for roughly 30 seconds in a media availability. In a letter to McConnell, Monahan recommended “no changes in treatment protocols” for his recovery from a March fall that left the Kentucky Republican with a concussion. (Everett, 9/5)

In his letter, Monahan says his examination of McConnell on August 30 included "several medical evaluations: brain MRI imaging, EEG study, and consultations with several neurologists for a comprehensive neurology assessment." (Snell, 9/5)

One-third of political appointees to the Department of Health and Human Services go work for the industry they oversaw immediately after departing their government job, according to a comprehensive new study examining health care's revolving door. (Millman, 9/6)

All seven living former Veterans Affairs Secretaries are joining with a coalition of advocacy groups to call for all Americans to participate in National Warrior Call Day this November in an effort to help prevent veteran suicides. The event — set for Nov. 12, the day after national Veterans Day ceremonies — is designed to highlight the estimated 17 veterans a day lost to suicide and prompt members of the public to take a role in reaching out to veterans. (Shane III, 9/5)

The Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday it failed to properly process 56,000 requests from veterans to add or remove dependents -- some dating back to 2011. The agency discovered the mistakes while looking into a technical problem that caused headaches for roughly 900 veterans trying to file online appeals on their PACT Act claims decisions. (Kime, 9/5)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with a higher incidence of depression, anorexia or post-traumatic stress disorder as well as the risk of suicide attempts, a new study found. A neurodevelopmental condition, ADHD is a pattern of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsive behavior that interferes with daily functioning or development. People with ADHD were 30% more likely to attempt suicide and 9% more likely to develop major depression, according to the study, which could only show associations and not prove a direct cause and effect. (LaMotte, 9/5)

A device that follows kids’ eye movements as they watch a video showing a social interaction between two children may help speed up diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, researchers say. Data from two new studies, published simultaneously Tuesday in JAMA and JAMA Network Open, suggest that the tablet-based device can identify the disorder in children ages 16 months to 30 months as accurately as a specialist would. (Carroll and Herzberg, 9/5)

Half of those who suffer cardiac arrest experience a telling symptom 24 hours before the incident, according to a study recently published in The Lancet Digital Health journal. This warning symptom was different in men and in women, researchers from Smidt Heart Institute found; the institute is located in the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. For women, shortness of breath was the symptom that preceded an impending cardiac arrest, while for men, chest pain was the prominent complaint. (McGorry, 9/4)

The nonprofit agency that brought us Smokey Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog and the saying "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," has turned its attention to educating Hispanic families about the early signs of Alzheimer's disease. The Ad Council's campaign, titled “Some Things Come With Age," is a new phase of its partnership with the Alzheimer's Association. (Byrnes, 9/5)

Some 10% to 20% of females and 4% to 10% of males in college suffer from an eating disorder, according to estimates from the National Eating Disorder Association. JD Ouellette, a California-based eating disorder expert at Equip, a virtual counseling service, agreed that the rates of disordered eating have been increasing for some time among this age group, a trend the pandemic accelerated. (Rudy, 9/6)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Cozy Images Of Plush Toys And Blankets Counter Messaging On Safe Infant Sleep

Samuel Hanke is a pediatric cardiologist in Cincinnati, but when you ask him for his title, he follows it by saying: “Most importantly, I’m Charlie’s dad.” Hanke remembers the night 13 years ago when Charlie, then 3 weeks old, was fussier than usual, so he picked him up to soothe him back to sleep. With Charlie still in his arms, he sat on the couch, turned on the TV, and nodded off. “We were kind of chest to chest, the way you see in pictures a lot,” Hanke said. But he didn’t realize Charlie’s airways were blocked. Too young to turn his head, too squished to let out a cry, Charlie died silently. The next morning, Hanke woke up to his worst nightmare. Years of medical school weren’t enough to prevent Hanke from losing Charlie to accidental suffocation. (DeGuzman, 9/6)

A new international study has shown mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) infections to be less severe among those who are vaccinated or had a previous infection in 2022, underlining the importance and effectiveness of vaccination. (Queen Mary University of London, 9/5)

A systematic review and meta-analysis found resistance to cefiderocol was low overall but "alarmingly high" among certain types of carbapenem-resistant bacteria, Greek researchers reported late last week in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. (Dall, 9/5)

A study conducted within a university health system found a greater proportion of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for respiratory conditions during the winter months, researchers reported today in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology. (Dall, 9/5)

Scientists have discovered two new genes that cause head and neck cancer patients to be resistant to chemotherapy, and that silencing either gene can make cancer cells previously unresponsive to chemotherapy subsequently respond to it. (Queen Mary University of London, 9/4)

A 27-year-old patient of mine has taken Adderall since early adolescence. A successful bonds trader who works long hours, he gives Adderall part of the credit for his success in business. (Dr. Marc Siegel, 9/5)

The debate over PEPFAR kicked off in May when the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, published a report that, without any substantiation, accused PEPFAR of “promoting” abortion. That same report callously referred to H.I.V. as a “lifestyle disease” and framed antiretroviral therapy as a partisan talking point. (Richard W. Bauer, 9/5)

President Biden recently announced the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations with Medicare. They include drugs to treat diabetes, heart disease, blood cancer, blood clots and rheumatoid arthritis — diseases that affect millions of Americans. (Larry Levitt, 9/6)

The alcohol industry has been thriving despite a streak of threats: the legalization of marijuana, a trade war with China that has hampered US exports, the rise of the sober-curious movement. Now a new risk, one few investors or companies are publicly acknowledging, could pressure sales: weight loss drugs. (Lisa Jarvis and Leticia Miranda, 9/1)

For most of my adult life, I’ve struggled with an opiate addiction of some form. But I’m one of the lucky ones, because I’m still here. The dark descent into the nefarious underworld of heroin addiction is well documented, but the challenging and deeply personal world of recovery and hope is rarely seen. (Miranda Stern, 9/5)

Moms in America need our help. More women die of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States than in any other high-income country, and mental health challenges are a leading cause of those lost lives. Now, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a fast-acting pill for postpartum depression that could be a game changer for many patients. That’s great news, but it can’t be the end of the story. (Kate Woodsome, 9/6)

I’ve been receiving an escalating stream of panicked emails from people telling me their longtime physician was retiring, was no longer taking their insurance or had gone concierge and would no longer see them unless they ponied up a hefty annual fee. They said they couldn’t find another primary-care doctor who could take them on or who offered a new-patient appointment sooner than months away. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, 9/5)

Antibacterial-resistant infections contributed to nearly 5 million deaths worldwide in 2019. In the United States, superbugs were the third leading cause of death from disease in 2019, behind heart disease and cancer, linked to nearly 173,000 deaths. The global death toll from this public health crisis is set to top 10 million annually by 2050 — exceeding the number of people who die from cancer. (Lavarne A. Burton, 9/5)

The healthcare industry is facing a wide variety of challenges—and solutions aren’t always straightforward. Each month, Modern Healthcare asks leaders in the field to weigh in on their approaches to the sector’s thorny issues. (Dr. Jefferey Hoffman and Dr. Michael Oppenheim, 9/5)

Aging societies have different needs from young ones, and while America is far from the only country facing this shift, it has been slow to address it. The strains are showing in everything from health care and housing to employment and transportation. With an average of 10,000 boomers turning 65 each day, these pressures are steadily intensifying and will continue to do so, especially if current immigration policies hold. The recent decline in Americans’ life expectancy over the past few years is especially alarming. (9/6)

To break through to the American public, the Biden administration is using forceful and unapologetic language on long-term care. They want constituents and voters to know that they are working to fix the broken federal system. We get it. The public needs someone to condemn, someone to push back against. In the narrative the administration is selling, nursing homes have been uniformly cast in the role of villain. (Katie Smith Sloan, 9/6)

Most people don’t like to think about growing old. But when asked, most Americans 55 or older say they want to do so at home. The appeal is understandable. Aging in place, surrounded by familiar places, faces and memories, can provide a sense of comfort and independence. It may seem a modest ambition, but the logistical and economic realities are daunting. Even healthy older people may struggle with basic tasks of daily life, so most of them will, at some point, require help from a caregiver, paid or unpaid, to remain at home. (Michelle Cottle, 9/6)