By Pawan Toshniwal – The industry spent the better part of a decade trying to make the phone matter less. Portals, online booking, text-to-schedule links. Some of it helped. Most of it didn’t move the needle the way we all expected. Patient access was supposed to go digital, and in plenty of ways it did. The phone just never stopped ringing.

By Jay Eisenstock – “Medicare for All” is a compelling slogan, but it obscures an important question: What exactly do we mean by Medicare for All? Before replacing the existing system with a single government payer, we should consider whether an enhanced Medicare Advantage model could achieve universal coverage while preserving competition, consumer choice, and private-sector cost management.

By Alexander Vitenas – A payment collected months before surgery and a payment collected after a procedure can leave the same balance due. But they tell different stories. One may be a prepayment tied to a planned treatment before a final charge existed. The other may be payment against an established balance. Looking only at the final number can hide how it came to be.

By April Miller – Healthcare organizations rely on external vendors for critical services, from electronic health records to billing. Ongoing vendor oversight helps you protect sensitive data and maintain quality patient care.