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š“š» Over a third of nursing homes donāt meet requirements
UnitedHealthcare prior auth program, Rite Aid's bankruptcy, and more!
In this edition:
š“š» Over a third of nursing homes donāt meet requirements
š United to launch prior auth program
ā Rite Aid emerges from bankruptcy as private company
4ļøā£ 4 strategies to deal with difficult patients
And more!
Over a third of nursing homes donāt meet requirements

Though all nursing homes must have a medical director under federal law, a new study shows that some nursing homes donāt 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 Aidās 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.
UCLA recieves $120M gift A $120 million donation from Gary and Alya Michelson will help UCLA launch the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, a medical research hub that will house efforts aimed at developing new treatments to prevent and cure diseases like Alzheimerās, cancer, and heart disease. Officials at the institute will also work on bringing those treatments to the marketplace. Most of the money will be used to establish a research program focused on vaccine development and another focused on microbiome research. | NY receives $10B in funding for affordable insurance Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the state is receiving $10 billion in funding to provide affordable health insurance to 1.5 million people. The funding comes after Hochulās previous announcement that the state expanded eligibility levels for the Essential Plan, a public health insurance program offered through the New York State of Health. New enrollees in the Essential Plan are estimated to save over $6,100 each year compared to what the amount they would be paying for commercial coverage. |
4 strategies to deal with difficult patients
Itās confusing to refer to a patient as ādifficult.ā After all, patients go to their doctor when they are feeling bad, uncomfortable, or are in pain, so they arenāt always at their best.
They can be harsh or abusive to office staff. They may question a providerās medical judgment. In addition, many patients are embarrassed or ashamed to admit everything to their doctor and donāt always take a providerās advice. And some physicians think patients can be coined ādifficultā when they have multiple comorbidities and are simply tough to manage.
In this article, weāll 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.