8 hospitals closing departments or ending services

A number of healthcare organizations have recently closed medical departments or ended services at facilities to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or address staffing shortages. Here are eight department closures or services that are ending or have been announced, advanced or finalized that Becker’s reported since Jan. 1: 1. Driggs, Idaho-based Teton […]

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10 hospitals, health systems raising workers’ pay

Since December 2025, the following hospitals and health systems have said they plan to raise their workers’ pay.  Editor note: This webpage was created Jan. 9, and will continue to be updated regularly. January 1. Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health is investing $776 million in workforce compensation this year, marking one of the largest single-year compensation increases […]

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Advocate Health turns to neuroscience for its next challenge

Neuroscience is the third national service line Advocate Health has formally stood up since its 2022 merger, alongside oncology and heart and vascular care. Through these expansions, Advocate, which is dually based in Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee, intends to create a systemwide framework for delivering complex specialty care at scale. Health system leaders told […]

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Partial shutdown begins: 3 updates

A partial government shutdown took effect Jan. 31 after Congress failed to meet a midnight deadline Jan. 30 to pass a revised funding package. Although the Senate voted 71-29 late Jan. 30 to pass the revised package, the measure still must clear the House and reach President Donald Trump’s desk. With the House not scheduled […]

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Florida teaching hospital taps CMO for medical group

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Holy Cross Health has appointed Lawrence Ward, MD, as chief medical officer of its medical group, effective February 2. Dr. Ward has more than 25 years of clinical and leadership experience across academic and integrated health systems, according to a Jan. 30 press release. He most recently served as vice president of […]

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Labor Department proposes PBM compensation disclosure rule for self-insured plans

The Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration proposed regulation Jan. 29 that would require pharmacy benefit managers to disclose their compensation with self-insured group health plans. Under the rule, PBMs would have to share information on their rebates and other manufacturer payments, compensation when plan prices exceed pharmacy reimbursement, and recouped pharmacy payments. Plan fiduciaries […]

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Joint replacement pioneer Dr. Kenneth Krackow dies

Kenneth Krackow, MD, a pioneer of joint replacement and arthroplasty procedures, died Jan. 9.  Dr. Krackow was an orthopedic surgeon and professor of orthopedics at the University of Buffalo (N.Y.) Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, according to a Jan. 29 news release from the university.  He helped develop one of the first commercially […]

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