Category Archives: Hospital Bailout

Employers split from health care industry

Posted on by • Posted in 2020 Election Issues, COBRA Coverage, Coronavirus, Crisis, Crisis Management, Economic Crisis, Economic Stimulus, Employer-Based Health Insurance, Health Insurance Coverage Adequacy, Health Insurance Industry, Health Policy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Bailout, Hospital Bailout Funding, Hospital Industry, Underinsured, Unemployment, Unemployment Insurance, Uninsured • Leave a comment

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Employers split from health care industry over coronavirus demands ...

Several large employer groups this week refused to sign on to funding requests they consider a “handout” for hospitals and insurers, according to three people close to the process.

The big picture: Coronavirus spending bills are sharpening tensions between the employers that fund a significant portion of the country’s health care system and the hospitals, doctors and insurers that operate it, Bob reports.

Driving the news: The industry’s most recent request — written primarily by the large hospital and health insurance lobbying groups — focused on a few items for the next coronavirus legislation:

  • Providing subsidies to maintain employer-sponsored insurance, which already receives a large tax break, as well as providing subsidies for COBRA for people who have lost their jobs.
  • Increasing subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and creating a special ACA enrollment window.
  • Opposing the use of the industry’s bailout funds to pay for uninsured COVID-19 patients at Medicare rates.

Between the lines: Employers know they get charged a lot more for health care services compared with public insurers, but many weren’t keen about urging Congress to “set up a government program to pay commercial reimbursements,” said an executive at a trade group that represents large corporations.

The other side: Several health care groups that signed the letter dismissed the idea of any disagreement with employers.

 

 

 

Hospitals that have disclosed bailout funds

Posted on by • Posted in 2020 Election Issues, Coronavirus, Crisis, Crisis Management, Economic Crisis, Economic Stimulus, Federal Bailout Funding, Health Policy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Bailout, Hospital Bailout Funding, Hospital Industry, Oversight, Pandemic • Leave a comment

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Hospitals Need Cash. Health Insurers Have It.

More than $1.2 billion in federal bailout funds have been disclosed by hospitals and health systems thus far, including $150 million that was sent to Mayo Clinic, according to a review of financial documents by Axios’ Bob Herman.

Why it matters: Hospitals do not have to repay these taxpayer funds, which are supposed to offset the lost revenue and higher costs associated with handling the coronavirus outbreak. But there is no central location to track where the money is flowing.

The big picture: Hospitals and other health care providers can receive coronavirus funds through two primary sources:

Where it stands: Axios has found 11 hospital organizations — ranging from small community hospitals to large, multistate systems — that have disclosed bailout funding and Medicare loans through municipal bondholder documents or public filings, and compiled them into a database.

  • Some of the largest bailout payments disclosed so far have gone to HCA Healthcare ($700 million), Mayo Clinic ($150 million), Mercy ($101.7 million) and NYU Langone Health ($73.1 million).
  • $50 billion of the first $100 billion in bailout funds is “allocated proportional to providers’ share of 2018 net patient revenue,” according to HHS, and therefore likely favors systems that are bigger and/or charge higher prices.
  • Medicare has sent $100 billion as loans as of April 24, $7 billion of which has been disclosed to these 11 hospital systems.

Go deeper: The hospital bailout funding database

 

 

 

 

 

Billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong buys California hospital for $135M

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Not just the richest man in LA, he is also a humanitarian

Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, has purchased a Los Angeles hospital out of bankruptcy for $135 million. 

Dr. Soon-Shiong acquired St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles from El Segundo, Calif.-based Verity Health. Verity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 and closed St. Vincent Medical Center in January. 

Under the purchase agreement, Dr. Soon-Shiong will take over the state of California’s lease obligations at St. Vincent. In March, the state used emergency COVID-19 funding to lease St. Vincent. The state reopened the facility, now called the Los Angeles Surge Hospital, through a partnership with Los Angeles County, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and San Francisco-based Dignity Health.

Dr. Soon-Shiong will use other buildings on the St. Vincent campus to conduct COVID-19 research. 

“St. Vincent is Los Angeles’ oldest hospital with a storied history of innovation and caring for the poor,” Dr. Soon-Shiong said. “Through the acquisition of this closed campus, we can ensure an ongoing legacy of preparedness against viral threats such as COVID-19.”

St. Vincent is the second hospital Verity has sold this month. On April 9, the health system announced it would sell St. Francis Medical Center in Lynnwood, Calif., to Prime Healthcare Services, a for-profit hospital operator based in Ontario, Calif.

 

 

 

 

Hospitals will need a Bailout

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We Tracked the Last Time the Government Bailed Out the… — ProPublica

The CEO of Kaleida Health in Buffalo, N.Y., said hospitals will likely need a bailout due to COVID-19, according to local news station WGRZ.

Kaleida Health President and CEO Jody Lomeo highlighted parallels between hospitals and U.S. automakers during the Great Recession. 

“I would think there’s gonna have to be some reimbursement on some level and we’ve seen some of that already with the [recent federal] stimulus bill. We’re gonna need support,” he told WGRZ. He added that his health system “can survive for a couple of months; after that I would be really nervous.”

While federal stimulus funds have begun flowing to hospitals nationwide, hospital CEOs are blasting HHS’ decision to distribute the first $30 billion in emergency funding based on Medicare fee-for-service revenue. HHS said April 10 it would allocate money to hospitals and providers based on their historical share of revenue from the Medicare program, rather than the burden caused by the coronavirus or number of uninsured patients treated.