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Hospital chain Steward Health Care Systems LLC and staffing firm Aya Healthcare Inc. are suing each other over outstanding bills in a dispute over soaring wages for nurses in the pandemic. Aya, based in San Diego, claims the Dallas-based hospital chain owes it more than $40 million including overdue bills, according to a lawsuit Aya filed Tuesday in Massachusetts Superior Court. Steward last month sued Aya in the same court, alleging price gouging and seeking to stop the staffing firm from canceling work for its nurses scheduled at the hospital chain. (Evans and Carlton, 4/8)

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission approved recommendations on accelerated-approval drugs and behavioral health services during its April meeting on Friday. Commissioners voted to recommend that Congress increase the minimum rebate percentage and additional inflationary rebate on drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration through the accelerated approval program. MACPAC commissioner Thomas Barker was the only commissioner to vote against the measure. (Brady, 4/9)

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the rate of burnout among physicians, who were already feeling bogged down by growing administrative workloads and additional challenges. During a Feb. 24 webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review and sponsored by Ingenious Med, industry experts discussed best practices to minimize physician burnout and described how analytics and tools can help healthcare organizations tackle burnout factors before they impact clinician well-being and care quality. (4/11)