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Kroger has inked a new deal giving more than 100 million Express Scripts members access to the grocery chain’s pharmacies, the companies announced Wednesday. The agreement applies immediately to Medicare prescription drug plans and TRICARE military health plans. The pharmacy benefit manager's commercial and Medicaid clients can opt to add Kroger pharmacies to their networks, according to a news release. (Berryman, 2/5)

Prospect Medical Holdings’ downward spiral into bankruptcy left many of its 16 hospitals and related facilities in limbo as the for-profit company looks to condense that portfolio and sell off facilities. Los Angeles-based Prospect, once majority-owned by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, has struggled for months under piles of debt and rising expenses. Those financial woes culminated in Prospect's decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. (Hudson, 2/5)

Teladoc Health plans to acquire home diagnostic company Catapult Health for $65 million to bolster its employer and health insurer businesses. The virtual care company said Wednesday it will add Catapult’s technology to support its existing products. Catapult Health’s clinicians will be able to directly enroll eligible members into Teladoc's programs and refer patients to the telehealth company's mental health and primary care providers. (Turner, 2/5)

As of Jan. 1, Medicare is paying physicians almost 3% less than last year for services provided to the country's 66 million Medicare patients. The decreased payments aren't a surprise or anything new, as CMS, by law, must keep physician payments budget neutral (cannot raise total Medicare spending by more than $20 million in a year). As a result, since 2020, Medicare has cut physician pay each year, despite rising costs for physicians to run their practices. Congress has introduced special legislation four times since 2020 to try to roll back the pay cut, and this year is no different. (Asin, 2/5)

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing is working on national recommendations to remove invasive mental health questions from nursing licensure applications, Medscape reported Feb. 5. The potential changes come amid a growing movement to destigmatize mental health among providers. Here are four things to know about this trend: 1. Nursing licensing boards in 30 states ask questions about mental illness on their applications and 22 boards ask about past mental health diagnoses and require predictions of future impairment. (Taylor, 2/5)

Dave Meichsner spent 25 years in the tech industry before going back to school to become a clinical social worker. “My wife was a social worker, and she would tell me about the things that she was doing and helping people,” he said. “And frankly, I was jealous.” He and his wife now run Women’s Counseling of Nashua, a practice with about 20 clinicians. But these days, Meichsner spends only half his week seeing clients. The rest of his time goes to chasing down insurance payments. (Cuno-Booth, 2/5)

A quarter of Americans rank healthcare access and affordability as the top public health priority they want government leaders to focus on, according to poll findings from Gallup and Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. A greater percentage of respondents — 52% — placed access and costs among the top three public health priorities. The Rollins-Gallup Public Health Priorities survey asked 2,121 U.S. adults about their biggest public health concerns, how the government could most effectively address them and what sources of information they trust most. The online survey was conducted between Dec. 2-15. (Carbajal, 2/5)