It’s undeniable that demand for travel nurses has fallen since its pandemic peak, when hospitals paid top dollar for temporary staff as patient numbers soared and swaths of workers fell ill.

Now, though, the numbers tell a different story.

After growing more than sixfold from $6.5 billion in 2019 to $42.7 billion in 2022, the travel nursing market shrank 40% to $25.6 billion in 2023, according to a June report by research and advisory firm Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA).

Throughout 2023, headline after headline reported downsizing at companies built for travel nurses, and pay shrank, with the average bill rate down from $133.47 in 2022 to $106.78, SIA found. The question arises: What does travel nursing’s future look like?

Staffing agencies and healthcare experts say the industry was growing even before the pandemic, and though it has fallen from pandemic levels, it’s worth more than it was before. They predict travel nursing has a strong future in a normal market.

Keep reading here.—CC

Working in healthcare feels a lot like running a triathlon…every single shift. It’s no coincidence that foot and back pain seem to be a common complaint from nurses, doctors, and healthcare pros alike.

Luckily, that’s where HOKA’s Bondi SR steps into the picture. These slip-resistant, ultra-grippy shoes are constructed with a water-resistant leather upper that’ll shield your feet during the toughest shifts.

Besides being one of HOKA’s most cushioned shoes, the Bondi SR is where fashion meets function. Everyone in the hospital and lab will likely be asking where you copped ’em.

Give your feet a break.

GLP-1 drugs could put a major strain on Medicare Part D’s budget in the future, according to a study published on August 27 in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Many Medicare beneficiaries can’t get GLP-1 coverage because federal law currently doesn’t allow the program to cover drugs prescribed only for weight loss. But in March 2024, after clinical trial results published in November 2023 showed that semaglutide-based GLP-1s such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy can reduce cardiovascular incidents, Medicare announced that Part D plans could cover Wegovy for patients with an elevated body mass index (BMI) and “established cardiovascular disease.”

Medicare has yet to provide an exact definition of established cardiovascular disease, so it’s unclear how many beneficiaries would qualify for the coverage. But even conservative estimates have researchers projecting that GLP-1s such as Wegovy could become Part D’s most expensive drugs.

The study found that 3.6 million people (14.2% of Medicare beneficiaries) were “highly likely” to be eligible for Wegovy coverage if Medicare used a more conservative definition of established cardiovascular disease, and up to 15.2 million people (60.9% of beneficiaries) could be eligible if Medicare went with a more liberal definition. Researchers based the potential definitions on criteria such as prior history of cardiovascular disease or higher BMI levels.

Keep reading here.—MA

More like dental damage.

Your dentist’s office isn’t the first place you might think of as a cybersecurity risk, but as Medix Dental CEO Tom Terronez told IT Brew recently, the amount of private information stored there makes it a potential threat.

“One of the things that makes dental more vulnerable is that it’s still majority on premise, local practice management software,” Terronez said, adding that that means “they’re way behind a lot of other industries that are in cloud uptake.”

Gummed up. The FBI warned the American Dental Association in May of the potential danger to providers from hackers. In May 2023, hackers attacked Delta Dental of California in a breach exposing the information of around 7 million patients.

In April 2023, Aspen Dental—a chain with more than 1,000 dentists’ offices across the country—suffered a ransomware hack that exposed user data, including health insurance information and Social Security numbers.

Keep reading on IT Brew.—EH