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Hospitals that have published their previously confidential prices to comply with a new federal rule have also blocked that information from web searches with special coding embedded on their websites, according to a Wall Street Journal examination. The information must be disclosed under a federal rule aimed at making the $1 trillion sector more consumer friendly. But hundreds of hospitals embedded code in their websites that prevented Alphabet Inc.’s Google and other search engines from displaying pages with the price lists, according to the Journal examination of more than 3,100 sites. (McGinty, Wilde Matthews and Evans, 3/22)

Employers, individuals and other claimants insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan over the last decade stand to split up to $125 million as part of a $2.67 billion proposed antitrust settlement agreement that the national Blue Cross association and its 36 member plans have signed off on. While admitting no wrongdoing, the Blues were alleged in an 8-year-old antitrust lawsuit filed in Alabama by more than 1 million plaintiffs to have overcharged self-funded company plans, fully insured company plans and individuals based on national association membership licensing rules that prohibited plans from competing in others' territories or states. (Greene, 3/21)

Sanford Health will invest $300 million to boost rural health, the not-for-profit health system announced Friday. The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based system plans to create eight new graduate medical residencies and fellowships, which Sanford hopes will foster a network of specialists in underserved rural communities. Sanford will also add new soccer, baseball and softball fields to its sports complex in Sioux Falls and expand its tournaments, sports training programs and youth and adult leagues. (Kacik, 3/19)

Microbiome company Finch Therapeutics is, officially, worth about $960 million. Shares in the company began trading publicly on Friday morning. The company’s shares were initially priced at $17; as of 11 a.m., that price had increased by 30% to nearly $22. Finch’s stock ticker is FNCH. The company announced positive topline results from a Phase 2 trial this summer for its treatment for C. difficile, a potentially fatal gut infection that often returns even after a course of antibiotics. (Sheridan, 3/19)

Digital therapeutics companies are eager to show their work. Five days before President Biden took office, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule to exempt a laundry list of medical devices from typical regulations, including newly cleared apps to treat psychiatric disorders. Now, their creators have pushed back, demanding that digital therapeutics need and deserve regulatory scrutiny. (Palmer, 3/22)

Initial signs of the tumultuous year ahead began to take hold a year ago this month, with the World Health Organization’s pandemic declaration and a wave of regional lockdowns. Like much of the business world, the medtech industry has ridden a roller coaster of steep demand for novel diagnostics and a plunge in once-stable business lines like hip and knee replacement surgeries. With accurate testing among the most immediate public health and market needs, giants like Abbott and Becton Dickinson jumped into new markets of PCR, antigen and antibody tests. (3/15)

For the healthcare industry, much has changed, and some of those alterations may be permanent. Providers have learned a lot over the past year, including how to improve systemwide communications and work on more efficient patient flow strategies. And hospital staff have faced unprecedented levels of stress and burnout, leading to concerns about hiring enough people and keeping them well in the future. Meanwhile, most primary care providers have largely recovered from the pandemic financially, but they're increasingly frustrated with lack of access to coronavirus vaccine to give to their patients, many of whom report worsening chronic medical conditions. (3/15)

Brittany Bankhead-­Kendall, 34, was a newly minted surgeon when the COVID-19 pandemic began. At first, like thousands of other health care professionals, she worked tirelessly in crisis mode. But by last fall, she was experiencing random and repeated physiological symptoms, including a racing heart and dimmed vision. She diagnosed herself as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The worst of the pandemic may be behind the country. But for front-line health workers such as Bankhead-Kendall, the psychological scars from the chaos and uncertainty they’ve lived through, and the suffering and death they’ve witnessed, may take much longer to heal. (Vestal, 3/18)

The same technology expected to make increasingly immersive virtual reality, driverless cars and other “smart” products possible will also improve hospital processes and patient care—at least, that’s what some early adopters are hoping. A small number of healthcare organizations in recent years have struck partnerships with telecommunications companies to try out 5G—the newest generation of wireless internet—for an expansive roster of innovative tech projects, including programs related to augmented and virtual reality, robot-assisted telesurgery, and data processing. (Cohen, 3/20)

KHN: Blue Shield Spent Years Cultivating A Relationship With Newsom. It Got The State Vaccine Contract

Gavin Newsom was just making a name for himself as mayor of San Francisco in 2005 when Blue Shield of California wrote him its first major check. The young, business-friendly Democrat had exploded onto the national scene the year before by issuing same-sex marriage licenses in San Francisco, and he was pushing his next big idea, called Project Homeless Connect. The initiative would host bazaar-style events in neighborhoods across the city, linking homeless people to services like food assistance and health care. (Young and Hart, 3/19)