Quiz time: Test your knowledge on some of the biggest healthcare stories this year

While COVID-19 continued to dominate headlines in 2021, plenty of other news happened. Test your knowledge (and your memory!) to see how many you can get correct. Answers can be found at the end.

1. What did the Kaiser Family Foundation estimate the cost of “preventable” COVID-19 hospitalizations (cases in which those who were unvaccinated and hospitalized) was from June through August?

a. $5.7 billion

b. $500 million

c. $1.5 billion

2. Which healthcare CEO was knighted by the Queen of England?

a. Greg Adams, Kaiser Permanente

b. Andrew Witty, UnitedHealth Group

c. Chip Kahn, Federation of American Hospitals

3. The U.S. Justice Department in recent years has begun including private equity owners as defendants in its lawsuits against healthcare companies. These lawsuits are filed under what federal law?

a. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

b. False Claims Act

c. Employee Retirement Income Security Act

4. Which tech giant did Cerner hire its new CEO from?

a. Microsoft

b. Facebook

c. Google

5. By which year does the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services want to see every Medicare beneficiary and most Medicaid beneficiaries in an accountable care arrangement, according to an October announcement?

a. 2030

b. 2050

c. 2024

6. President Joe Biden’s social spending agenda, called the “Build Back Better Act,” aims to address maternal mortality by requiring state Medicaid programs to do what?

a. Cover the cost of trained midwives and doulas

b. Open community clinics geared toward family planning and prenatal care

c. Expand coverage for one year postpartum

7. When is longtime Virginia Mason CEO Gary Kaplan stepping down from his post at the newly merged Virginia Mason Franciscan Health?

a. July 2022

b. January 2022

c. December 2021

8. What is the maximum annual penalty for hospitals that don’t share their negotiated rates with insurers?

a. $2 million

b. $10 million

c. $50 million

9. What are more hospitals doing to prevent patients from becoming frustrated by administrative and billing hassles?

a. Issuing bills before surgery

b. Setting patients up with a social worker after treatment

c. Investing in financial technology— or fintech

10. Part of a federal rule set to take effect at the beginning of 2022 is facing lawsuits from the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association. Which policy is it?

a. Regulation requiring insurers to report drug and coverage costs

b. The surprise billing arbitration process

c. Medicare cuts to providers

b 10. c, 9. a, 8. b, 7. c, 6. a, 5. c, 4. b, 3. b, 2. a, 1. Answers: