In this episode, Alan Condon, Editor-in-Chief at Becker&#x27;s Healthcare, discusses the legal battle over Medicaid work requirements and the evolving rural hospital M&amp;A landscape, including Quorum Health&#x27;s growth strategy and Banner Health&#x27;s latest transaction.

Medicaid Challenges and Rural Hospital Deal Trends with Alan Condon

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

## Participants

- **Scott Becker** (Becker's Healthcare)
- **Alan Condon** (Becker's Healthcare)

## Transcript

The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system leaders right now is not a short list. Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your favor, a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency and discipline, and a workforce story that is still being written. Becker's 14th annual CEO CFO Roundtable brings together more than 1,500 executive-level attendees

and nearly 400 speakers across four days of sessions that are designed to help C-suite leaders benchmark, pressure test, and sharpen their priorities. Not in the abstract, but against the real decisions they'll face heading into the next year. It's the kind of event you leave with a clear sense of where you stand and what comes next. So join us November 2nd through the 5th at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago and come ready to do the hard thinking. Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com

by clicking on the events tab in the upper right. This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by brilliant journalist and editor-in-chief, Alan Condon. And Alan joins us regularly to talk about stories that he's watching in healthcare, an extremely busy time it seems in sort of business trends in healthcare, healthcare systems, some performing really well, some really struggling, and a lot more. Alan, let me turn it to you.

What are a few of the key stories that you're watching to keep an eye on currently? Yeah, absolutely. I was glad you'd be on with you, Scott. So I think two key stories I'd love to touch on today for our listeners and the Becker's audience. First and foremost, we saw yesterday, Monday, June 29th, 25 states and Washington, D.C. So Democratic governors and attorneys general from 25 states and Washington, D.C.

sued the Trump administration over CMS's interim final rule, which is, of course, implementing Medicaid work requirements. Future story here, I think no doubt this will play out over the next couple of months in the court system and whatnot, but essentially this lawsuit for hospital leaders listening to this call challenges CMS rule, which outlines how states must implement new community engagement requirements under, of course,

HR1, the one big beautiful bill, but the other name is that bill. So the law should essentially argue that the rule illegally narrows exemptions for medically frail Medicaid beneficiaries and creates administrative barriers that cause eligible people to really lose coverage. We know we've covered this ad nauseum of Becker's over the last couple of months that under HR1,

certain Medicaid expansion enrollees must work, attend school, volunteer, or participate in other qualifying activities to maintain that Medicaid coverage. So CMS has said that this rule is desig...

Medicaid Challenges and Rural Hospital Deal Trends with Alan Condon

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Medicaid Challenges and Rural Hospital Deal Trends with Alan Condon

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.