Hospitals across the US are bracing for possible immigration arrests taking place within their walls following a recent Trump administration policy change.

One day after Trump took the oath of office, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded an Obama-era policy that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from making arrests in “sensitive” areas such as hospitals, schools, and churches.

In response, hospital leaders should train workers on interacting with law officials and create standardized protocols to follow in case of immigration enforcement actions, Magda Rodriguez, a healthcare attorney and partner at Day Pitney law firm, told Healthcare Brew.

“You have to train your staff, you have to reinforce your current policies, because…you don’t want to get caught off guard,” Rodriguez said.

Step by step. Hospitals should first establish a clear “chain of command” so all staff know where to turn for guidance if and when immigration enforcement officials show up, according to Rodriguez.

Keep reading here.—MA

For the healthcare industry, 2024 was a year of many breaches—and expensive ones, too.

UnitedHealth Group’s CEO Andrew Witty told the US Senate Committee on Finance that his company paid a $22 million ransom, following a record-breaking 2024 cyberattack against its subsidiary Change Healthcare. (The February breach hit the personal information of 100 million people, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.)

A report from the HIPAA Journal called 2024 the “the worst-ever year in terms of breached healthcare records”—claiming a 9.4% annual increase in compromised data and a 2024 total of 184,111,469 breached records.

Kroll’s Denyl Green sees high numbers in the future, too.

“Healthcare organizations hold a lot of really sensitive data, which is valuable, and ransomware attacks targeting those organizations have a definite impact,” Green told IT Brew.

As global head of breach notification at the risk advisory firm, Green’s teams help companies mail notifications, spin up dedicated call centers, and provide credit monitoring to impacted individuals.

Keep reading the full story on IT Brew.—BH

There were two themes that kept popping up in health insurers’ recent earnings calls: rising medical costs and Medicare Advantage star ratings.

Despite generally surpassing industry expectations in Q4, these challenges have been a recurring theme throughout 2024.

Medical costs mount

Medicaid and Medicare members are getting more care more often, and insurers are paying more as a result.

“Most insurers, they hadn’t priced for that level of utilization,” Michael Cherny, senior research analyst and senior managing director at Leerink Partners, a healthcare investment bank, told Healthcare Brew.

Elevance Health, for instance, reported $3.84 a share in Q4 2024, beating analysts’ expectations of $3.81, according to FactSet, as reported by Market Watch.

However, the company highlighted elevated medical costs among Medicaid members, pushing its benefit-expense ratio—the amount spent versus earned from customers—to 92.4% in Q4, up from 89.2% in Q4 2023.

Keep reading here.—CC