In this edition:

• 👴🏻 Over a third of nursing homes don’t meet requirements

• 📟 United to launch prior auth program

• ❌ Rite Aid emerges from bankruptcy as private company

• 4️⃣ 4 strategies to deal with difficult patients

• And more!

Over a third of nursing homes don’t meet requirements

Though all nursing homes must have a medical director under federal law, a new study shows that some nursing homes don’t meet the requirement. Facilities that do have a medical director report that the medical director spends just a few hours per week on site, according to the study.

United to launch prior auth program

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has announced it will launch a Gold Card program Oct. 1 intended to ease some prior authorizations. Practices that qualify will receive a streamlined prior authorization process for certain medical, behavioral, and mental health services (UHC says it will publish a list of the services on Sept. 1).

UHC will evaluate practices annually for Gold Card status, effective Oct. 1. Practices could lose Gold Card status due to patient safety concerns, non-cooperation, or failure to meet program requirements.

Practices can request a Gold Card status review within 30 days of notification on the UnitedHealthcare Provider Portal. The portal outlines the required information for review requests. Any status changes will be communicated.

The Gold Card Program will be effective in all states and will be modified, when necessary, to meet state requirements. UHC will apply any state criteria, as required, for the applicable product.

Rite Aid emerges from bankruptcy

Rite Aid will operate as a private company after it successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the U.S. drugstore chain said on Tuesday.

The pharmacy has used its bankruptcy to close hundreds of stores, sell its pharmacy benefit company Elixir, and negotiate settlements with its lenders, drug distribution partner McKesson and other creditors.

Ownership of the company has transitioned to certain Rite Aid creditors, and all of Rite Aid’s existing common shares were canceled, it said.

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 in October 2023, after reporting $750 million in losses and $24 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ended March 2023.

Before it filed for bankruptcy, Rite Aid faced 1,600 opioid lawsuits, including one by the federal government alleging that the company ignored red flags when filling suspicious prescriptions for the addictive pain drugs.

Rite Aid, which operated 2,000 pharmacies at the time of its bankruptcy, expects to emerge from Chapter 11 with a smaller retail footprint.

4 strategies to deal with difficult patients

It’s confusing to refer to a patient as “difficult.” After all, patients go to their doctor when they are feeling bad, uncomfortable, or are in pain, so they aren’t always at their best.

They can be harsh or abusive to office staff. They may question a provider’s medical judgment. In addition, many patients are embarrassed or ashamed to admit everything to their doctor and don’t always take a provider’s advice. And some physicians think patients can be coined “difficult” when they have multiple comorbidities and are simply tough to manage.

In this article, we’ll discuss the most common issues that come up with patients that may make them harder to deal with and solutions that may help a provider.