Category Archives: Health System

Tenet California hospital workers set May 6 union rally after shareholders meeting

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hr/tenet-california-hospital-workers-set-may-6-union-rally-after-shareholders-meeting.html?origin=CFOE&utm_source=CFOE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
South California healthcare workers plan payment, safety protest during Tenet Healthcare investor meeting | FierceHealthcare

Workers at three Tenet Healthcare hospitals in Southern California will hold a rally May 6 to highlight their concerns about staffing, wages and benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the union that represents them. 

The rally comes as the National Union of Healthcare Workers is in negotiations with Dallas-based Tenet for more than 600 direct Tenet employees at Fountain Valley Regional, including respiratory therapists, nursing assistants and X-ray technicians. The union is also in negotiations with the Compass Group, a food and support services provider, for about 225 housekeepers and food service workers at Tenet California hospitals in Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos and Lakewood, who are subcontracted by Tenet and employees of Compass.

Union spokesperson Matt Artz told Becker’s workers contend Tenet has remained profitable during the pandemic, but it did not implement appropriate safety measures. He said Tenet also rejected proposals to better staff certain units, and it has rejected the union’s proposal to stop subcontracting out the housekeepers and food service workers who have struggled to afford healthcare.

The union said Tenet, a major for-profit hospital operator, has the financial means to address these issues. The company reported a $97 million profit in the first quarter of 2021. Tenet stock also recently hit a new 52-week high, according to an April 29 report from Zacks Equity Research. 

“These profits are not helping workers or patients,” Christina Rodriguez, a respiratory therapist at Fountain Valley (Calif.) Regional Hospital, said in a May 5 news release. “They’re being made at the expense of patient care and the people who have put their health on the line to help patients during this pandemic. At the height of the surge, I would go home crying that we didn’t have enough staff to help patients struggling to survive.”

Tenet contends the issue is not about Tenet but rather about negotiations between Compass and the union. Tenet said it is focused on staff and patients. 

“This matter is not about us. It’s about a negotiation strictly between the NUHW and the Compass Group, which is a vendor that provides a range of food, laundry and other support services to hospitals,” Tenet told Becker’s. “At all times, our main concern is the safety of our staff, the integrity of our facilities and the best possible outcomes for our patients, and we remain hopeful that the NUHW and Compass will reach a positive outcome at the conclusion of their respective negotiations.”

But the union said Tenet can decide whether to bring the subcontracted housekeepers and food service workers in-house, which would benefit them in terms of wages and health benefits. 

Meanwhile, Compass said it will continue to negotiate in good faith, with union members.

“Our hardworking team members are at the heart of what we do, and their determination to provide best-in-class care and service is inspiring,” a Compass spokesperson told Becker’s. “We take pride in paying competitive wages and providing affordable benefits and continue to uphold our agreement with the NUHW. We have a long history of listening to our employees, working productively with unions, and will continue to meet and negotiate — always in good faith.” 

Respiratory therapists, housekeepers, nursing assistants, medical technicians, dietary workers and others represented by the union said they plan to rally from 11 a.m. to noon May 6 outside Fountain Valley Regional. 

The rally, scheduled after Tenet’s shareholders meeting, includes workers from Los Alamitos (Calif.) Medical Center and Lakewood (Calif.) Regional Medical Center. Union workers whose jobs are subcontracted to Compass will speak during the rally, the union said. 

Private equity acquisitions targeted large, high-margin hospitals over 15-year period

Posted on by • Posted in For-Profit, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Market Consolidation, Market Power, Merger Conditions, Mergers & Acquisitions, Operating Expense Reduction, Operating Expenses, Operating Income, Operating Margin, Operating Metrics, Operating Performance, Operating Revenue, Outcomes, Private Equity, Profit Margin, Profit Model, Profit Motive • Leave a comment
https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/private-equity-acquisitions-targeted-large-high-margin-hospitals-from-2003-2017?mkt_tok=Mjk0LU1RRi0wNTYAAAF84S0lHzEXGnckbTB1AZg98zJKSqY3Tst0jl3dy3kW9-vHMqEJSO3frP9s139zQilxN9rnsV8zxfR5m7WFXNeZPGHWiIt2pkE2PNW0GRwV_DrO9XI&mrkid=959610
Private-Equity Cash Piles Up as Takeover Targets Get Pricier - WSJ

From 2003 to 2017, private equity firms focused their acquisition crosshairs on larger hospitals with higher operating margins and greater patient charge-to-cost ratios, according to a new review of healthcare investments published in Health Affairs.

These private equity (PE)-owned hospitals also saw greater increases to their operating margins and charge-to-cost ratios over the course of the 15-year study period than their non-PE-owned counterparts.

Combined with a decrease in all-personnel staffing ratios, the study’s researchers said these data make a case for further investigation into how PE investment may be influencing operational decisions to boost profits and secure favorable exits.

“[Short-term acute care] hospitals’ large size, stable cashflow environment and prevalence of valuable fixed assets (that is, properties) make them highly desirable targets for acquisition,” researchers wrote in Health Affairs. “Broadly speaking, PE acquisition of hospitals invites questions about the alignment of the financial incentives necessary to achieve high-quality clinical outcomes.”

To inform that discussion, the researchers reviewed PE deal data collected by Pitchbook, CB Insights and Zephyr. They also collected information on hospital characteristics and financials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Healthcare Provider Cost Reporting Information System database and the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey.

Their efforts yielded 42 PE acquisitions involving 282 different hospitals during the 15-year time period. These deals were most frequent among hospitals in Mid-Atlantic and Southern states.

Of note, 161 of the acquired hospitals were tied to a single deal: Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity’s roughly $33 billion (more than $21 billion cash, $11.7 billion debt) acquisition of HCA Healthcare in 2007.

The study outlined differences between the PE-acquired hospitals and others that were not acquired before any of the deals (in 2003) and after (in 2017).

Nearly three-quarters of hospitals acquired by PE were for-profit in 2003, versus about a quarter of those that were not acquired, the researchers wrote. By 2017, those respective proportions had increased to 92.3% and 25.3%.

Acquired hospitals were significantly larger in terms of beds and total discharges both in 2003 and in 2017. In fact, while acquired hospitals increased in size during the 15-year window, other hospitals decreased in beds and discharges by 2017.

Nurse staffing ratios were similar on both ends of the study period for both categories of hospitals. However, all-staff ratios were lower among the soon-to-be-acquired hospitals in 2003 and saw a slight decrease over the years, whereas hospitals that had not been acquired instead recorded an increase over time.

In terms of financials, the researchers reviewed measures including net patient revenue per discharge, total operating expenses per discharge and the percentage of discharges paid out by Medicaid. Differences among these three areas were not significant with the exception of a larger 15-year increase in total operating expenses per discharge among non-PE hospitals.

The primary financial differences between the PE and non-PE hospitals were instead found among the organizations’ percent operating margins and charge-to-cost ratio, the researcher wrote.

In 2003, both measures were higher among the soon-to-be acquired hospitals. By 2017, the percent operating margin and charge-to-cost ratio increased 66.5% and 105% among the PE-acquired hospitals, respectively, versus changes of -3.8% and 54.2% for the non-PE hospitals.

These and the study’s other findings outline the playbook an investor could follow to identify a profitable hospital and increase its margins, the researchers wrote.

“Post-acquisition, these hospitals appeared to continue to boost profits by restraining growth in cost per patient, in part by limiting staffing growth,” they wrote.

The trends affirm findings published in a 2020 JAMA Internal Medicine study, which similarly tied PE acquisition to moderate income and charge-to-cost ratio increases over the same time period, the researchers wrote.

The data also contrast “the prevailing narrative” that PE investors target distressed businesses to extract value for a quick turnaround sale, they wrote. Outside of a few outlier acquisitions, the researchers said that PE’s goal for short-term acute care hospitals appears to be the opposite—operations refinement and further profit improvements among potential top performers.

Still, the differing structure of PE investments warrants questions as to whether these groups are promoting high-quality outcomes alongside their high margins, Anaeze Offodile II, M.D., an assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the study’s lead author, said during an accompanying Health Affairs podcast.

In contrast to the public market, PE investments often lean on leveraged buyouts that are higher risk and higher reward, he said. Partners are targeting a three-to-seven-year exit window for their investments and often need to hit 20% to 30% annualized returns.

More investigation is needed to determine whether these economic incentives come in tandem with better care or are instead hindering patient outcomes, he said.

“The question becomes ‘Are there unintended consequences or tradeoffs invited due to pursuit of profitability?’” Offodile said during the podcast. “I think someone could make the same argument that if there is a value enhancement strategy by PE firms, then it behooves them to actually raise the level of care delivery up because that enhances the value and engineers a better sale.

“In seeing that sort of exploratory result and how it challenged the prevailing narrative, we’re glad that we took this sort of [setting the] stage approach, and I look [forward] to seeing what we find—which we’re doing now—with respect to quality, spending, access domains,” he said.

For one more year, Medicare says there is no Central Jersey, saving hospitals $100M

Posted on by • Posted in Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Health Policy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Medicare, Medicare Cuts, Medicare Statistical Area, Medicare Wage Index, State Hospital Association • Leave a comment

https://www.app.com/story/news/health/2021/05/01/central-jersey-disappears-medicare-says-saving-nj-hospitals-100-m/4892942001/

Medicare saves hospitals more than $100M by denying Central Jersey

Hospitals in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties will continue to receive New York City-level reimbursement rates from Medicare for another year, avoiding more than $100 million in potential cuts, New Jersey lawmakers said Friday.

The decision by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gives the hospitals a year to convince the Biden administration that for them, at least, there is no such thing as Central Jersey.

CMS released its decision as part of its final rules for fiscal 2022. It delayed a Trump-era proposal to move the hospitals out of the New York-Newark-Jersey City region and into the newly crafted New Brunswick-Lakewood core-based statistical area.

Any Central New Jersey designation usually is met locally with pride and joy, but this move came with a steep price. Hospitals’ Medicare reimbursements are tied in part to their labor costs. And the labor costs in their new region are about 17% lower than their old region.

The cuts in reimbursement rates would have saved money for federal taxpayers, but they also would have hit local hospitals hard. The industry during the pandemic was faced with higher expenses and forced to delay lucrative elective procedures. 

As a result, 41% of New Jersey hospitals were losing money, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association, a trade group.

The group on Friday thanked the state’s congressional delegation for its help.

“NJHA has strongly advocated for the reversal of this ill-advised policy since it was first implemented last year, and this delay in further cuts in critical health care dollars to our state is welcomed news,” Cathy Bennett, the association’s president and chief executive officer, said. 

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., both Democrats, led the campaign to stop the new classification at least until the 2020 U.S. Census data was released.

In a letter a month ago to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the lawmakers said hospitals moved to the new statistical areas would have lost revenue, making it tougher to compete with hospitals in New York and northern New Jersey to attract skilled workers.

“This federal support will benefit patients by allowing our top-notch hospitals to retain and hire the best and the brightest,” Pascrell said in a statement Friday.

HCA to sell 4 Georgia hospitals for $950M

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-and-valuation/hca-to-sell-4-georgia-hospitals-for-950m.html?origin=BHRE&utm_source=BHRE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
Tenet says it's on schedule to bring in $1B in proceeds through divestitures - MedCity News

HCA Healthcare will divest four of its hospitals in Georgia for about $950 million, the Nashville, Tenn.-based hospital system said May 3. 

The for-profit provider will sell the four facilities to Piedmont Healthcare, a nonprofit health system based in Atlanta. 

The four hospitals are the 310-bed Eastside Medical Center in Snellville; the 119-bed Cartersville Medical Center; and the two-hospital Coliseum Health System, which includes 310-bed Coliseum Medical Centers in Mason and 103-bed Coliseum Northside in Mason. Piedmont will also assume ownership of a behavioral health facility owned by the Coliseum Health System. 

HCA said the transaction will provide strategic value as it increases its financial flexibility to invest in its core markets. 

The two health systems expect the transaction to close in the third quarter of 2021. It still needs regulatory approvals.

Ascension’s technology business to lay off 651 employees

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/ascension-s-technology-business-to-lay-off-651-employees.html?origin=BHRE&utm_source=BHRE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
Layoffs hitting more white collar jobs — and even health care workers

Ascension Technologies, the IT subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ascension, plans to lay off an estimated 651 remote workers this year, according to an April 30 St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. 

Ascension Technologies said it will begin working with a third party to take on the tech support for EHR and revenue cycle management responsibilities its employees had been performing, the company said in an April 27 notice it filed with the state. 

None of the employees affected by the layoffs are based in Missouri, but all the positions report to an office in St. Louis. Ascension Technologies plans to facilitate the layoffs between Aug. 8 and Dec. 10. 

Ascension Technologies employees affected by the layoffs can apply for other positions within the company or with the new vendor. Ascension will also provide severance and outplacement services to employees who are unable to get another job with the company.

Colorado’s “public option” primed to move forward

Posted on by • Posted in ACA, Health Insurance Coverage Adequacy, Health Insurance Industry, Health Insurance Premiums, Health Policy, Health System, Healthcare Reform, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Public Option • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/097beec6499c/the-weekly-gist-april-30-2021?e=d1e747d2d8

What a Difference a Year Makes in Colorado's Case for a Public Option Plan | Kaiser Health News

We’ve closely tracked Colorado’s pursuit of its own public option insurance plan, which seems now to have reached a compromise that will allow a bill to move forward, according to reporting from Colorado Public Radio. The saga began two years ago when state legislators passed a law requiring Democratic Governor Jared Polis’ administration to develop a public option proposal. Amid the pandemic and broad industry opposition, progress stalled last year on the proposal. Lawmakers picked up the proposal this session, and have made progress on a compromise bill now poised to pass the state’s Democratic legislature.

Unlike the earlier version, the new legislation would not lay the groundwork for a government-run insurance option, but rather would force insurers to offer a plan in which the benefits and premiums are defined and regulated by the state. The bill would also allow the state to regulate how much hospitals and doctors are paid.

In the current version, hospital reimbursement is set at a minimum of 155 percent of Medicare rates, and premiums are expected to be 18 percent lower than the current average. While state Republicans and some progressive Democrats are still opposed, the Colorado Hospital Association and State Association of Health Plans are neutral on the bill, largely eliminating industry opposition. 

The role hospitals played in fighting the pandemic surely paved the way toward the compromise bill, which is viewed as much more friendly to providers than the previous proposal. With the Biden administration unlikely to pursue Medicare expansion or a national public option, we expect more Democratic-run states to pursue these sorts of state-level efforts to expand coverage.

In the wake of the pandemic, providers are well-positioned to negotiate—and should use the goodwill they’ve generated to explore more favorable terms, rather than resorting to their usual knee-jerk opposition to these kinds of proposals.

A mounting wave of post-COVID CEO retirements

Posted on by • Posted in CEO, CEO Retirement, Competition, Cost Management, Cost Reduction, Crisis, Crisis Management, Disruption, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Leadership, Leadership Legacy, Leadership Skill Sets, Leadership Transition, Pandemic, Recruiting, Talent Identification, Talent Imperative, Talent Management • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/097beec6499c/the-weekly-gist-april-30-2021?e=d1e747d2d8

The Great Reset - YouTube

A recently retired health system CEO pointed us to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which indicates that leading an organization through an industry downturn takes a year and a half off a CEO’s lifespan.

It’s not surprising, he said, that given the stress of the past year, we will face a big wave of retirements of tenured health system CEOs as their organizations exit the COVID crisis. Part of the turnover is generational, with many Baby Boomers nearing retirement age, and some having delayed their exits to mitigate disruption during the pandemic.

As they look toward the next few years and decide when to exit, many are also contemplating their legacies. One shared, “COVID was enormously challenging, but we are coming out of it with great pride, and a sense of accomplishment that we did things we never thought possible.

Do I want to leave on that note, or after three more years of cost cutting?” All agreed that a different skill set will be required for the next generation of leaders. The next-generation CEOs must build diverse teams capable of succeeding in a disruptive marketplace, and think differently about the role of the health system.

“I’m glad I’m retiring soon,” one executive noted. “I’m not sure I have the experience to face what’s coming. You won’t succeed by just being better at running the old playbook.” Compelling candidates exist in many systems, and assessing who performed best under the “stress test” of COVID should prove a helpful way to identify them.

Medicare’s proposed payment rule benefits hospitals

Posted on by • Posted in American Hospital Association (AHA), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Health Policy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Legal Challenges, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Advantage Contract Terms, Medicare Covid-19 Payments, Medicare Readmissions, Medicare Residency Funding, Price Regulation, Price Transparency, Quality Measures • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/097beec6499c/the-weekly-gist-april-30-2021?e=d1e747d2d8

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule this week. Overall, the rule brings good news for hospitals: Medicare reimbursement rates are slated to increase by 2.8 percent, resulting in a $2.5B payment boost to the industry.

In another win, hospitals will no longer be required to disclose their contract terms with Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers. Hospitals had previously been mandated by the 2021 rule to report median, payer-specific, negotiated charges for MA insurers on their Medicare cost reports. Medicare’s goal was to use this data to create a new, market-based, inpatient reimbursement methodology—an effort which has also been tabled, at least for now.

Led by the American Hospital Association, hospitals have been embroiled in lengthy legal challenges over a variety of CMS price transparency requirements, maintaining they are neither beneficial for consumers, nor helpful in lowering healthcare costs. 

It’s too early to tell whether this step back from price transparency, which was a key goal of the Trump administration, signals anything about the Biden administration’s priorities; it’s possible CMS may just be slowing down the effort in the wake of the pandemic.

Other highlights of the proposed rule include funding 1,000 more residency slots over the next five years, and extending payments for COVID-19 treatments to the end of 2022, as CMS expects COVID patients will need care beyond the duration of public health emergency. The agency also proposed several changes to its readmissions and other value-based purchasing programs, to ensure hospitals aren’t penalized by COVID-related impacts on quality measures.

Comments on the proposed rule are due by June 28th.

Time to Say Goodbye to Some Insurers’ Waivers for Covid Treatment Fees

Posted on by • Posted in ACA, Coinsurance, Copayment, Coronavirus, Coronavirus Treatment, Health Insurance Coverage Adequacy, Health Insurance Industry, Health Insurance Premium Rebate, Health System, High Deductible Health Plans, High Drug Prices, High Prices, Hospital, Out of Pocket Expenses, Public Relations • Leave a comment
https://khn.org/news/article/time-to-say-goodbye-to-some-insurers-waivers-for-covid-treatment-fees/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=123492827&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8xru5dXiaQo0bqXbwEVrXg1cZYCeTlOwiBc–0ANIMm31z1Vy3_Uqz2A17Wu_HeG0vXN6Zy8xpBenlgWD8fGGto85f_A&utm_content=123492827&utm_source=hs_email

Just as other industries are rolling back some consumer-friendly changes made early in the pandemic — think empty middle seats on airplanes — so, too, are health insurers.

Many voluntarily waived  all deductibles, copayments and other costs for insured patients who fell ill with covid-19 and needed hospital care, doctor visits, medications or other treatment.

Setting aside those fees was a good move from a public relations standpoint. The industry got credit for helping customers during tough times. And it had political and financial benefits for insurers, too.

But nothing lasts forever.

Starting at the end of last year — and continuing into the spring — a growing number of insurers are quietly ending those fee waivers for covid treatment on some or all policies.

“When it comes to treatment, more and more consumers will find that the normal course of deductibles, copayments and coinsurance will apply,” said Sabrina Corlette, research professor and co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.

Even so, “the good news is that vaccinations and most covid tests should still be free,” added Corlette.

That’s because federal law requires insurers to waive costs for covid testing and vaccination.

Guidance issued early in President Joe Biden’s term reinforced that Trump administration rule about waiving cost sharing for testing and said it applies even in situations in which an asymptomatic person wants a test before, say, visiting a relative.

But treatment is different.

Insurers voluntarily waived those costs, so they can decide when to reinstate them.

Indeed, the initial step not to charge treatment fees may have preempted any effort by the federal government to mandate it, said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF and director for its program on the Affordable Care Act.

In a study released in November, researchers found about 88% of people covered by insurance plans — those bought by individuals and some group plans offered by employers — had policies that waived such payments at some point during the pandemic, said Cox, a co-author. But many of those waivers were expected to expire by the end of the year or early this year.

Some did.

Anthem, for example, stopped them at the end of January. UnitedHealth, another of the nation’s largest insurers, began rolling back waivers in the fall, finishing up by the end of March. Deductible-free inpatient treatment for covid through Aetna expired Feb. 28.

A few insurers continue to forgo patient cost sharing in some types of policies. Humana, for example, has left the cost-sharing waiver in place for Medicare Advantage members, but dropped it Jan. 1 for those in job-based group plans.

Not all are making the changes.

For example, Premera Blue Cross in Washington and Sharp Health Plan in California have extended treatment cost waivers through June. Kaiser Permanente said it is keeping its program in place for members diagnosed with covid and has not set an end date. Meanwhile, UPMC in Pittsburgh planned to continue to waive all copayments and deductibles for in-network treatment through April 20.

What It All Means

Waivers may result in little savings for people with mild cases of covid that are treated at home. But the savings for patients who fall seriously ill and wind up in the hospital could be substantial.

Emergency room visits and hospitalization are expensive, and many insured patients must pay a portion of those costs through annual deductibles before full coverage kicks in.

Deductibles have been on the rise for years. Single-coverage deductibles for people who work for large employers average $1,418, while those for employees of small firms average $2,295, according to a survey of employers by KFF. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.)

Annual deductibles for Affordable Care Act plans are generally higher, depending on the plan type.

Both kinds of coverage also include copayments, which are flat-dollar amounts, and often coinsurance, which is a percentage of the cost of office visits, hospital stays and prescription drugs.

Ending the waivers for treatment “is a big deal if you get sick,” said Robert Laszewski, an insurance industry consultant in Maryland. “And then you find out you have to pay $5,000 out-of-pocket that your cousin didn’t two months ago.”

Costs and Benefits

Still, those patient fees represent only a slice of the overall cost of caring for a hospitalized patient with covid.

While it helped patients’ cash flow, insurers saw other kinds of benefits.

For one thing, insurers recognized early on that patients — facing stay-at-home orders and other restrictions — were avoiding medical care in droves, driving down what insurers had to fork out for care.

“I think they were realizing they would be reporting extraordinarily good profits because they could see utilization dropping like a rock,” said Laszewski. “Doctors, hospitals, restaurants and everyone else were in big trouble. So, it was good politics to waive copays and deductibles.”

Besides generating goodwill, insurers may benefit in another way.

Under the ACA, insurers are required to spend at least 80% of their premium revenue on direct health care, rather than on marketing and administration. (Large group plans must spend 85%.)

By waiving those fees, insurers’ own spending went up a bit, potentially helping offset some share of what are expected to be hefty rebates this summer. That’s because insurers whose spending on direct medical care falls short of the ACA’s threshold must issue rebates by Aug. 1 to the individuals or employers who purchased the plans.

A record $2.5 billion was rebated for policies in effect in 2019, with the average rebate per person coming in at about $219.

Knowing their spending was falling during the pandemic helped fuel decisions to waive patient copayments for treatment, since insurers knew “they would have to give this money back in one form or another because of the rebates,” Cox said.

It’s a mixed bag for consumers.

“If they completely offset the rebates through waiving cost sharing, then it strictly benefits only those with covid who needed significant treatment,” noted Cox. “But, if they issue rebates, there’s more broad distribution.”

Even with that, insurers can expect to send a lot back in rebates this fall.

In a report out this week, KFF estimated that insurers may owe $2.1 billion in rebates for last year’s policies, the second-highest amount issued under the ACA. Under the law, rebate amounts are based on three years of financial data and profits. Final numbers aren’t expected until later in the year.

The rebates “are likely driven in part by suppressed health care utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report says.

Still, economist Joe Antos at the American Enterprise Institute says waiving the copays and deductibles may boost goodwill in the public eye more than rebates. “It’s a community benefit they could get some credit for,” said Antos, whereas many policyholders who get a small rebate check may just cash it and “it doesn’t have an impact on how they think about anything.”

5 hospitals seeking to regain independence, split from systems

Posted on by • Posted in Divestitures, Divorce, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Independence, Hospital Industry, Independence, Lawsuit, Merger Conditions, Mergers & Acquisitions • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-and-valuation/5-hospitals-seeking-to-regain-independence-split-from-systems.html?origin=CFOE&utm_source=CFOE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
Catskill Center for Independence :: Home

Several hospitals are looking to split from the health system they belong to, regain independence or partner with a different healthcare organization.

Below are five instances reported since Jan. 1, beginning with the most recent:

1. 2 hospitals to part ways with U of Kansas Health System
HaysMed, a single-hospital system in Hays, Kan., and Pawnee Valley Community Hospital in Larned, Kan., will depart from the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City.  University of Kansas Health System and the two hospitals said they decided that working independently “best supports the long-term health and wellness of our communities.”

2. North Carolina system to sever ties with Atrium
Carolinas HealthCare System Blue Ridge, a two-campus system in Morganton, N.C., plans to cut ties with Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health. The hospital system said its board of directors approved a nonbinding letter of intent to instead become part of the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health network through a management services agreement. 

3. California hospital seeks split from Providence: 6 things to know
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif., is seeking to end its affiliation with Providence, a Catholic health system based in Renton, Wash. Hoag filed a lawsuit last year to split from the 51-hospital system.

4. Boone Hospital Center splits from BJC HealthCare April 1
Columbia, Mo.-based Boone Hospital Center became independent April 1, separating from St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare.

5. Washington hospital splits from Virginia Mason
Virginia Mason Memorial in Yakima, Wash., has transitioned back to an independent hospital and reverted to its old name. The board of Virginia Mason Memorial voted in late October to end its affiliation with Seattle-based Virginia Mason Health System. The hospital said it split from Virginia Mason because of the system’s merger with Tacoma, Wash.-based CHI Franciscan.