The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that a record 16.3 million people enrolled in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, New York, and North Carolina.

• District of Columbia: The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that a record 16.3 million people enrolled in ACA health insurance plans this year. According to HHS, over 3 million new members joined the marketplace. CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said the government worked with nonprofit organizations and invested in program specialists tasked with helping people in low-income, immigrant, Black, and Latino communities enroll. "We made unprecedented investments to expand our enrollment organization footprint into nearly every county in the country and targeted the hardest-to-reach communities," Brooks-LaSure said. Notably, the rise in enrollment is coupled with a record low number of uninsured individuals, with just 8% of Americans remaining uninsured. (AP/Modern Healthcare, 1/25)

• New York: The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) announced that NYSNA members at Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital have ratified their contracts. Earlier this month, the nurses and hospitals reached tentative agreements after the nurses participated in a strike for three days, demanding increased wages and a commitment to safer staffing ratios. At Montefiore, the agreement includes a 19% wage increase over three years, new staffing ratios in the ED, acute care, and sub-acute care departments, preserved health care benefits, and a plan to recruit and retain more nurses. At Mount Sinai, the agreement also includes a 19% wage increase over three years, as well as wall-to-wall safe staffing ratios across all units, and preserved health care benefits. (Neber, Crain's New York Business/Modern Healthcare, 1/24)

• North Carolina: Premier Inc. AI Applied Sciences recently released new data that show the consequences opioid use disorder (OUD) has on health system's finances. According to the report, the addiction crisis costs hospitals over $95 billion each year, accounting for 7.86% of all hospital expenditures. In a recent blog post, Premier researchers noted that addressing the opioid epidemic can help improve hospital finances. In the Premier analysis, which compared data from 2017 and 2022, researchers found that OUD patients were younger than other ED patients. In addition, the researchers found that OUD patients were more likely to be male, and Native American, or white. "Collectively, healthcare needs to address [social determinants], OUD and myriad inequities experienced among patient populations to improve health and outcomes, and positively impact hospital and health system margins," the analysis said. (Goldman, Axios, 1/24)