VA officials to testify on Cerner EHR implementation
FEB. 24: Tenet Healthcare Corp. delivers its earnings for the quarter that ended in December. Analysts expect the for-profit hospital company to post revenue of $4.75 billion, up 2.9% from the same period last year.
FEB. 26: A House appropriations subcommittee drills down into HHS’ fiscal 2021 budget request. The Trump administration unveiled its spending blueprint earlier this month. Overall, the president proposed significant domestic spending cuts, including 9% to HHS’ budget. Trump’s plan would also impose work requirements for food stamps and Medicaid nationwide.
FEB. 26: Wall Street watchers expect Universal Health Services to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on higher revenue for the quarter that ended in Dec. 2019. Zacks Investment Research predicted revenue will total $2.89 billion, up 4.8% from the same period last year.
FEB. 27: The federal budget conversation switches to the Veterans
Affairs Department, this time before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. The administration proposed a 13% bump in the department’s funding. Initial budget documents suggested some of that increase—a specific amount wasn’t referenced—would go toward implementing the Mission Act, which allows vets to get care outside the VA.
FEB. 27: More VA news. Department officials will get a chance to explain why they pushed back end-user training of a new electronic health record system, which was slated to start in early February. As technology reporter
Jessica Kim Cohen recently reported, the move could further delay the VA’s overall EHR implementation timeline. The department is slated to bring its first site—Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash.—live on a new Cerner Corp. EHR this month. Watch for coverage of the hearing online and in our newsletters.
FEB. 27-28: The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission holds its monthly meeting. An agenda wasn’t available at deadline, but rules and regulations reporter Michael Brady will be covering it and providing updates online and in our newsletters.