Why Merck's antiviral Covid-19 pill is a bigger deal than you think, a map of the 2,500 hospitals facing readmission penalties this year, and more.

7 reasons why Merck's antiviral Covid-19 pill is a bigger deal than you think (Monday, Oct. 4)

On Friday, Merck & Co. announced its oral antiviral drug molnupiravir reduced the rate of hospitalization or death by roughly 50% in participants with mild or moderate Covid-19. But while most headlines treated the drug as just one new "tool in the toolbox" for treating Covid-19, Advisory Board's Pam Divack argues it's a "much bigger" deal than that—and could drive a paradigm shift for the pandemic.

Map: See the 2,500 hospitals that face readmission penalties this year (Tuesday, Oct. 5)

CMS has released data on how it will adjust hospital payments in fiscal year 2022 under its Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program—and around 18% of hospitals will face penalties of at least 1% of their Medicare reimbursements. Explore the data and see the results for individual hospitals on our interactive map.

Why so many nurses are quitting (and what to do about it) (Wednesday, Oct. 6)

The Covid-19 epidemic has driven more bedside nurses than ever to leave their jobs—but even before the coronavirus struck, nurse turnover had been rising for nearly a decade. Here's why it's so hard to keep nurses from leaving, and how you can convince them to stay, according to Advisory Board's Junhong Peng and Lauren Rewers.

The 14 U.S. health care billionaires on this year's 'Forbes 400' (Thursday, Oct. 7)

Forbes recently released its 2021 list of the 400 wealthiest people in America, which includes 14 U.S. billionaires who made their fortunes in the health care industry.

Charted: The 13 reasons health care workers are quitting (Friday, Oct. 8)

Almost one in five health care workers have quit their jobs since the start of the pandemic, and among those who stayed, 31% have considered leaving, according to a recent poll from Morning Consult. See why health care workers are leaving their jobs on our interactive charts. According to Advisory Board expert Katherine Virkstis, the same challenges have been around long before Covid-19 and will not end with the pandemic—but there are key ways to help.