Orchard Hill Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Maryland will pay $400,000 to settle allegations that it provided substandard care to residents in violation of the Maryland False Health Claims Act. The settlement includes $325,000 for a quality improvement plan overseen by the state. An investigation found issues such as inadequate wound care, poor nutrition and hydration for residents, regulatory violations, preventable falls and insufficient staffing, officials said.

Pharmacist Sandra Lee Symington Bang of Spokane County, Wash., has had her license suspended by the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission. Authorities say that she falsified prescriptions, including those for controlled substances, to obtain the drugs for her own use.

Accountable care organizations in the Medicare Shared Savings Program that have higher financial risk and have participated longer than others have achieved better outcomes, according to an issue brief from the Health Care Transformation Task Force. The task force found that participation in two-sided risk models is associated with greater savings and quality improvements than participation in one-sided risk models.

Health care organizations are adopting AI technologies rapidly, but it's important to take a step back and assess whether the tools align with community needs, especially for mental health, writes physician and public health leader Oni Blackstock. Few published studies on health AI involve patient or community input, and randomized, controlled trials were used to evaluate less than 3% of FDA-cleared AI health devices. Blackstock suggests using tools like the Organizational Readiness to Engage in Community-Led Health AI Partnership framework to foster community-led partnerships and ensure that digital health tools, whether AI-based or not, align with community priorities.

Some patients in North Carolina have received unexpected bills for self-administered questionnaires assessing mental health and social drivers of health needs. Novant Health began charging for these surveys in 2024 and connecting patients to resources if needed, but patients say they were not informed of the charges before completing the questionnaires. Some commercial insurers expect such screenings to be included in the total visit charge and will not pay a separate fee.