Surgeries and diagnoses generate the most medical malpractice claims, a recent report on a decade of malpractice data says. Despite advances in patient safety since the publication of the landmark report To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System more than 20 years ago, medical errors continue to draw thousands of malpractice claims annually. The recent report, which was published by Coverys, says malpractice claims that the company handled over the past decade show the quest to improve patient safety is far from over.

For decades, health care executives and policy makers have voiced the need for the health care industry to reward value over volume. While there have been promising alternative payment pilots, a vast majority of the US health care system remains financed through fee-for-service payments, meaning that more office visits, hospitalizations, or procedures will generate more revenue and margin. The coronavirus pandemic has challenged this decades-long business model. As elective procedures and office visits declined, health systems across the country lost billions of dollars. Hospitals, integrated health systems, and even independent practices are now facing a financial crisis when patients and families need them most.

A new survey of U.S. physicians shows that they have differing views on how the payer market needs to evolve, but a vast majority agree that affordable insurance is necessary to provide access to high-quality care while reducing costs.

The volume of announced and closed merger and acquisition deals in the health-care sector in September (201) accelerated to end Q3, up from 166 in August and just shy of the year-to-date high in January (213). The surge over the past month suggests that investment activity may be on the upswing following a few months of slowed activity resulting from the pandemic. In total, announced/closed deals in Q3 totaled 497, up from 354 in Q2 and a record-setting deal volume in Q1 (476). Physician practices and services saw increased deal volume (23) from August (19). Totals for the sector in Q3 (48) increased nearly 80% from Q2 (27) as transactions increasingly have trended upward over the past two months.