HITshow Daily: January 15, 2026 (Thursday)
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Today on HITshow:
Today’s theme is pressure points: cash flow, staffing, access to care, and the systems that keep it all running. A major insurer launches a pilot to speed Medicare Advantage payments to rural hospitals, the NYC nurses strike enters its third day with 15,000 nurses walking out, and new analysis shows 117 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies since late 2020. Plus: HHS reverses NIOSH cuts reinstating nearly 900 workplace safety researchers, a Maine health system reports breach affecting 145,000 individuals, and a Bright Spot on Verato solving patient identity to eliminate the clipboard.
HOST: RHONDA BROOKS
📍 Finance & Capital — Teresa Vaughn
One of the nation’s largest insurers is launching a six-month pilot to speed up Medicare Advantage payments to independent rural hospitals in four states (Oklahoma, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri), cutting typical collection time from under 30 days to under 15 days on average. For small hospitals, shaving two weeks off collections can mean the difference between making payroll comfortably or leaning on credit.
📍 Healthcare Policy & Advocacy — Teresa Vaughn
The New York City nurses strike is now in its third day with roughly 15,000 nurses walking out across multiple campuses tied to three major private hospital systems. Core issues include staffing commitments, workplace safety and violence protections, and pay/benefits improvements. Staffing is being framed not just as a workforce concern but as a patient safety standard with enforceable language, potentially setting precedent for 2026 labor negotiations nationwide.
📍 Finance & Capital — Logan Stokes
A new analysis shows that since the end of 2020, 117 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies or will stop by end of 2025, an 11% reduction in rural labor and delivery units. When a rural hospital loses obstetrics, downstream impacts hit ED volumes, transfer patterns, NICU partnerships, and community trust, while pressuring larger regional systems with more high-risk pregnancies traveling farther.
📍 Healthcare Policy & Advocacy — Rhonda Brooks
The Department of Health and Human Services is reversing cuts at NIOSH (federal workplace safety research center), beginning to reinstate nearly 900 researchers and staff laid off last year. The work touches respiratory protection, exposure guidance, and workplace hazard research affecting healthcare workers and first responders.
📍 Cybersecurity — Anika Shah
A Maine health system disclosed a cyber incident exposing data tied to more than 145,000 individuals including personal identifiers and health information. The organization detected unusual network activity in mid-2025, investigated with outside experts, and later confirmed information including identifiers and in some cases clinical and insurance details may have been taken. Detection speed and communication discipline are as important as technical response because trust is part of recovery.
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📍 Digital Health — Jalen Cross (Bright Spot)
Verato CEO Clay Ritchey explains the most common experience health systems get wrong is lack of context at every touch of the care journey, forcing patients to re-explain themselves repeatedly. The clipboard epitomizes this failure. Only 25% of millennials or younger have a primary care physician compared to 80% of those 65+, making micro-moment experiences more important. Younger generations are 3x more likely to switch providers because they expect better consumer experiences.
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Presented by: EnableComp | Ovatient | Spare Tire
