Here is a selection of recent executive hires, promotions and layoffs occurring across the healthcare industry.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions announced that it will soon begin conducting strike authorization votes among its 85,000 members. The coalition’s chief concern is Kaiser’s dangerous staffing levels, which members say have led to excessively long wait times, patient neglect and mistaken diagnosis. If the coalition authorizes and implements the strike, it will become the largest strike of healthcare workers in the history of the U.S.

Nurse unions and labor experts agree that the pandemic was a turning point that catalyzed nurses to fight for improved working conditions and overall better treatment from their employers. By negotiating new contracts with their employers, unions are working hard to both uphold patient safety and mitigate the nursing field’s debilitating workforce shortage.

M&A activity among hospitals and health systems increased in Q2 of 2023 — there were 20 deals in Q2 compared to 15 deals in Q1, according to a new report. This surge brought Q2’s M&A activity levels in line with those observed before the pandemic. Q2’s 20 deal marks the highest number of announced transactions for hospitals and health systems since Q1 of 2020.

A Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in JAMA Health Forum found that Medicare Advantage members who received meals after being discharged from the hospital had lower odds of rehospitalization and death.

Kaiser Permanente announced that it expects to acquire Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health. Kaiser’s move is part of a larger plan — Geisinger will be the first health system to join Risant Health, a new company Kaiser launched to operate nonprofit health systems under value-based care models. Kaiser said it expects to invest $5 billion in Risant and fold five or six health systems into the company over the next five years.

Healthcare workers at Stanford Medical Center and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital ratified a new agreement that increases their wages by 15% over the next three years. It’s been good month for nurses unions in Northern California — Kaiser Permanente nurses recently ratified a new contract that increased wages by 22.5% over four years and included provisions for improved staffing.

About 21,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses in Northern California ratified a new four-year contract — one that includes provisions for a 22.5% wage increase, improved staffing and more. The contract’s approval comes about two weeks after Kaiser reached an agreement with California Nurses Association to avert what would have been the biggest private sector nurses strike in American history.

To help address the diabetes epidemic, providers should incorporate remote patient monitoring into the standard of care, according to Kaiser Permanente physician Dr. Sos Mboijana. When treating chronic conditions like diabetes, having access to a continuous flow of patient data is critical, he said.

About 22,000 nurses and nurse practitioners reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente, averting what would have been the biggest private sector nurses strike in American history. These workers have been in negotiations since June, but they will soon vote to ratify a new four-year contract, which includes provisions for a 22.5% raise, increased nurse staffing and more.

Kaiser Permanente is a couple months into a first-of-its kind community program focused on helping Americans build their credit. Having no credit or bad credit is a major barrier to financial mobility, which is often a necessity to living a healthy life.

Health maintenance is in some ways overmedicalized in the U.S., according to executives at two major health systems. Treatments and procedures aren’t the only ways to support patients’ health — the leaders said that providers would be wise to invest more in social services to improve health outcomes.

Research has proven there is a strong link between food security and health outcomes. Kaiser Permanente’s $50 million commitment will build on things the organization is already doing, including connecting people with SNAP and sending medically tailored meals to patients recently hospitalized for certain diet-related chronic conditions.

A new California law that took effect in July requires health plans regulated by the state to provide return appointments no more than 10 days after a previous mental health or substance use session — unless a patient’s therapist approves less frequent visits.

More than 2,000 mental health clinicians who work at Kaiser Permanente went on strike on Monday. The strike comes as a result of continued complaints about mental health care access at the health system — workers are saying patients must wait four to 11 weeks for a follow-up appointment. Through a new page posted on its website, Kaiser denies the union’s claims.

Clinicians used to wonder if there was a role for mindfulness meditation in healthcare. But after the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the overwhelming need for practical solutions in behavioral health, the question has shifted to what role it can play.

The lofty ideals of patient-centric care are not been borne out in reality. This is a personal essay about my parent’s experience with Kaiser Permanente.

The California-based health system and insurer has bilked CMS out of “hundreds of millions of dollars” by submitting claims that were altered to make patients appear sicker than they were, a new complaint filed by the DOJ alleges. Kaiser denied these allegations saying it is confident in its compliance with Medicare Advantage program requirements.

Eleven health systems have joined the coalition, which aims to extend and expand the existing federal hospital-at-home waivers and create an advanced acute care-at-home delivery model at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.

A little over half (55%) of Medicare Advantage plan members actively managed their care in the past year — a nine-percentage-point drop from 2019, according to a new report. This indicates that MA plans are faltering with regard to member engagement.

The government has intervened in complaints alleging Kaiser Permanente entities defrauded Medicare out of “tens of millions of dollars” by knowingly submitting false diagnoses for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. Kaiser denies the allegations, saying it is in compliance with program requirements.

Called the Covid Hotspotting Score, the tool brings together 10 indicators that can help health systems predict the possibility of a Covid-19 surge up to six weeks ahead of time.

Co-led by Kaiser Permanente, the Series D financing round will enable OM1 to expand its data networks into chronic disease areas, including rheumatology and behavioral health, and advance its AI analytics models.

Several organizations, both providers and payers, have pledged to help the White House achieve its goal of administering at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 70% of Americans over the next month. These organizations are launching various initiatives to engage the unvaccinated, including call campaigns and financial incentives.

The health systems are sinking a combined $100 million into Medically Home Group, which enables clinicians to provide hospital-level care in patients’ homes. The funds are intended to scale the company’s operations and expand access to its care delivery model.

The California-based health system agreed to settle two lawsuits alleging unfair practices that resulted in Black and Hispanic workers being paid less and receiving fewer promotions than their white counterparts. In total, Kaiser Permanente agreed to pay $18.9 million as part of the settlements.

As Covid-19 cases started escalating last April, providers in hotspot states, like New York, California and Washington, had to quickly pivot their IT plans. These are some of the decisions that five health IT leaders made — aside from expanding telehealth — that helped their health systems survive the first wave of the pandemic and beyond.

The California-based healthcare organization will work with Accenture and Microsoft to grow and strengthen its cloud capabilities. The enhancements are expected to help Kaiser provide its care teams with data insights to personalize patient care.

The CDC has engaged the California-based health system’s Vaccine Study Center to conduct an analysis of its Covid-19 vaccine data with the aim of pinpointing adverse events and reactions. The collaboration will continue for the next three years.

The managed care company picked six mental health apps that it made available to its members over the past two years. It recently published a paper showing patients were more likely to download or use digital health tools when referred by a physician.