Anthony Brino

Rural health providers may feel burdened by a confluence of policy and financing trends. But one opportunity, depending on the state, can help with sustainability.

With 25 million Americans set to be insured through exchange plans over the next decade, some health systems are finding a competitive advantage in branding their own health networks, improving on the concept that entered the market with the name "narrow networks."

In Massachusetts, the expansion of Partners HealthCare is offering a fractious case study of integration and health reform and begs the question: how big is too big?

On the face of it, the industry is making great strides toward adopting value-oriented payment models, but the question of whether or not the industry is also reducing costs and improving care quality remains unanswered.

The ranks of Medicaid keep growing, and at record levels. But while that's good news for hospital systems' uncompensated care budgets, there are still challenges.

Rather than waiting for innovation, one health system is looking to nurture its own clinical and technology advances, tapping into Amazon alums and a billionaire surgeon with a big, disruptive vision.

For those that are struggling -- and even those that aren't -- a new exit strategy idea is being floated: launching a Medicare Advantage plan.

Hospitals across the country are investing in clinical tools and personnel to solve the long-standing, increasingly expensive problem of readmissions, but hospitals are finding certain patients keep coming back for repeat visits.

The Midwest's first proton beam cancer therapy center is closing its doors amid ongoing efficacy questions and financial struggles. This and other developments should leave health systems considering investing in proton therapy treading cautiously - but not ruling it out altogether.

As regional payers and providers take the first steps to begin working together in the era healthcare reform, one area they can start with is the issue of readmissions.