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Personal information for potentially tens of millions of HCA Healthcare patients has been stolen and is now available for sale on a data breach forum as of earlier this week. HCA, one of the largest companies in the U.S., warned patients that critical personal information had been compromised, including their full name, city and when and where they last saw a provider. (Goswami, 7/10)

HCA Healthcare revealed Monday that it’s experienced what is likely the largest data breach ever reported by a health care provider, with approximately 11 million patients affected. (Bannow, 7/10)

In recent years, private equity firms have been gobbling up physician practices to form powerful medical groups across the country, according to a new report released Monday. In more than a quarter of local markets — in places like Tucson, Ariz.; Columbus, Ohio; and Providence, R.I. — a single private equity firm owned more than 30 percent of practices in a given specialty in 2021. In 13 percent of the markets, the firms owned groups employing more than half the local specialists. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 7/10)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: As Nonprofit Hospitals Reap Big Tax Breaks, States Scrutinize Their Required Charity Spending

The public school system here had to scramble in 2018 when the local hospital, newly purchased, was converted to a tax-exempt nonprofit entity. The takeover by Tower Health meant the 219-bed Pottstown Hospital no longer had to pay federal and state taxes. It also no longer had to pay local property taxes, taking away more than $900,000 a year from the already underfunded Pottstown School District, school officials said. (Miller and Hawryluk, 7/11)

The state has flagged six Philadelphia-area nursing programs as needing improvement after too many of their graduates failed to pass their licensure exams last year. Pennsylvania Board of Nursing’s watch list swelled this past year, as test scores nationally hit the lowest point in a decade. (Gutman, 7/11)

While a pre-med student at UNC Chapel Hill, Amy Hawkins had always thought she would continue her education at a traditional medical school. She questioned that path after seeing a loved one struggle to stay healthy despite consistent medical care. As her ailing grandmother suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Hawkins said that she saw a medical system that was more concerned with treatment of symptoms than prevention of disease. (Thomae, 7/11)

Hospitals and health systems seeking executive-level talent must find leaders with the appropriate skills to oversee increasingly complex organizations, all while navigating a tight labor market and challenging economic environment. “This industry is just under enormous pressure and stress,” said Michelle Johnson, senior partner at executive search firm WittKieffer. “I think we have to get a little creative, or at least a little more creative, both in terms of how we structure compensation and also in a willingness to broaden our hiring efforts.” (Hudson, 7/10)

Marketplace health insurers will pay a record $9.24 billion in 2023 through an Affordable Care Act program intended to prevent carriers from targeting healthier policyholders for enrollment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched the risk-adjustment program in 2014 to discourage insurance companies from cherry-picking policyholders and stop big year-over-year premium swings. Companies on the exchanges that insure less expensive members must send funds for CMS to allocate toward those covering sicker individuals. (Tepper and Broderick, 7/10)

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) last week called on member states to strengthen their capacity to detect, manage, and prevent outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant organisms linked to medical tourism. The warning comes in the wake of a multinational fungal meningitis outbreak linked to two private cosmetic surgery clinics in Mexico. (Dall, 7/10)

Zunera Hashmi, a Toronto resident, has been anxiously waiting in line for three years to be assigned a family doctor. When she gets stressed, the 28-year-old marketing professional calls the provincial help line but hears the same message: “Wait just a bit longer.” She emails them occasionally but gets no reply. (Rai, 7/10)