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US hospitals pay up to 6 times more for medical devices, study finds

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/supply-chain/us-hospitals-pay-up-to-6-times-more-for-medical-devices-study-finds.html

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U.S. hospitals spend more on prescription drugs than their peers in European countries, and the same is true for medical devices, a new study published in Health Affairs suggests. In some cases, hospitals in the U.S. paid six times more for a medical device than their European counterparts.

The study was conducted by two researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science who looked at what hospitals in the U.S., U.K., France, Italy and Germany paid for various heart implants, such as stents and pacemakers. They used data from 2006 to 2014 from a large hospital panel survey consisting of 30,000 unique price points.

The researchers found that depending on the type of stent or pacemaker, U.S. hospitals paid anywhere from two to six times more than the country that paid the lowest prices. The country that often paid the lowest price was Germany.

One example provided was drug-eluting stent prices. The price of the device in the U.S. consistently exceeded the price in Germany by $1,000.
Prices between countries differed for various reasons, including the market power of medical device manufacturers and each country’s tech-based regulations.
The findings suggest “that manufacturers exploit varying levels of willingness to pay and bargaining power between buyers to charge different prices across hospitals and increase profits,” the researchers wrote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 health systems with strong finances

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/15-health-systems-with-strong-finances-100418.html

Here are 15 health systems with strong operational metrics and solid financial positions, according to recent reports from Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Health system names were compiled from recent credit rating reports and are listed in alphabetical order.

1. St. Louis-based Ascension has an “Aa2” senior debt rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a large diversified portfolio of sizable hospitals and strong liquidity. Moody’s expects Ascension’s margins to improve in fiscal year 2019.

2. Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a strong market position, favorable balance sheet ratios and strong operating performance, according to Moody’s.

3. Atrium Health has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The Charlotte, N.C.-based health system has historically stable operating performance and solid cash-flow metrics, according to Moody’s.

4. Prince Frederick, Md.-based Calvert Health System has an “AA-” rating and stable outlook with Fitch. The system has a leading market share, a favorable payer mix and stable cash flow, according to Fitch.

5. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a dominant market position, strong margins and ample liquidity, according to Moody’s.

6. Cleveland Clinic has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. Cleveland Clinic has strong brand recognition, exceptional fundraising ability and healthy cash flow, according to Moody’s.

7. Inova Health System has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The Falls Church, Va.-based health system has consistently strong cash-flow margins, a leading market position and a good investment position, according to Moody’s.

8. Philadelphia-based Main Line Health has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a strong market position, healthy balance sheet metrics and a light debt burden, according to Moody’s.

9. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. Mayo has a strong clinical reputation, favorable fundraising capabilities and a robust balance sheet, according to Moody’s.

10. Dallas-based Methodist Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a favorable liquidity position, consistent operating results and a growing market population, according to Moody’s.

11. Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine has an “AA-” rating and stable outlook with Fitch. The system has strong operating margins and a light debt burden, according to Fitch.

12. Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has healthy debt service coverage, manageable capital spending and improving liquidity metrics, according to Moody’s.

13. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Kan.) Health System, which does business as SCL Health, has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a good market position in a favorable service area, strong operating margins and limited capital spending, according to Moody’s.

14. Hollywood, Fla.-based South Broward Hospital District has an “Aa3” rating and positive outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a dominant market position, robust debt coverage and improving operating margins, according to Moody’s.

15. Chapel Hill-based University of North Carolina Hospitals has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has an excellent market position, strong patient demand and healthy financial performance, according to Moody’s.

 

 

 

GAO: rural hospital closures increasing, South hardest hit

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https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/gao-rural-hospital-closures-increasing-south-hardest-hit/538604/

Dive Brief:

  • Hospitals across the U.S. are being battered by financial headwinds, and rural hospitals are vulnerable because they don’t have capital or diversified services to fall back on when the going gets rough. Between 2013 and 2017, 64 rural hospitals closed due to financial distress and changing healthcare dynamics, more than twice the number in the previous five years, a new Government Accountability Office analysis shows.  
  • Rural hospital closures disproportionately occurred in the South, among for-profit hospitals and among organizations with a Medicare-dependent hospital payment designation.
  • One potential lifeline was Medicaid expansion. According to GAO, just 17% of rural hospital closures occurred in states that had expanded Medicaid as of April 2018.

Dive Insight:

Declining inpatient admissions and reimbursement cuts have taken a toll on rural hospitals. Since 2010, 86 rural hospitals have closed, and 44% of those remaining are operating at a loss — up from 40% in 2017.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma released a rural health strategy in May aimed at improving access and quality of care in rural communities. Among its objectives are expanding telemedicine, empowering patients in rural areas to take responsibility for their health and leveraging partnerships to advance rural health goals.

The agency also expanded its Rural Community Hospital Demonstration from 17 to 30 hospitals. The program reimburses hospitals for the actual cost of inpatient services rather than standard Medicare rate, which could be as little as 80% of actual cost.

Such initiatives can be helpful, but if a hospital can’t make ends meet on its Medicare and Medicaid businesses and has only a modicum of privately insured patients, “that’s just not a balance that works financially,” Diane Calmus, government affairs and policy manager at the National Rural Health Association, told Healthcare Dive recently.

In all, 49 rural hospitals closed in the South, or 77% of rural hospital closures from 2013 through 2017, according to GAO. Texas had the most closures with 14, followed by Tennessee with eight and Georgia and Mississippi, each with five. By contrast, there were eight rural hospital closures in the Midwest and four each in the West and Northeast.

GAO also looked at closures by Medicare rural hospital payment designation. Critical access hospitals made up 36% of rural hospital closures, 30% were hospitals receiving Medicare standard inpatient payment, 25% had Medicare-dependent hospital designation and 9% were sole community hospitals.

To aid rural hospitals and ensure access for patients, NRHA has urged CMS to adopt a common sense approach to the “exclusive use” standard and lobbied lawmakers to pass legislation eliminating the 96-hour condition of payment requirement, two policies that are particularly hard on rural providers.

Another bill, the Save Rural Hospitals Act, would reverse reimbursement cuts to rural hospitals, provide other regulatory relief and establish the community outpatient hospital, a new provider type offering 24/7 emergency services plus outpatient and primary care.

 

 

 

 

 

1 big thing: Out-of-network coverage is disappearing

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https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-vitals-df4bea3c-3e1a-4efb-84f7-6e3247205ba7.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosvitals&stream=top

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One reason surprise medical bills are going up: Coverage for out-of-network care is going down, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Per RWJF:

  • Just 29% of insurance plans in the individual market provide any benefits for out-of-network providers. That’s down from 58% a mere three years ago.
  • Coverage is also declining in the market for small businesses, but not nearly as dramatically — 64% of small-group plans offer some out-of-network coverage, down from 71% in 2015.
  • Those small-group numbers are probably roughly in line with where things stand among large employers’ plans.

Why it matters: The burgeoning controversy over surprise hospital bills stems partly (though not exclusively) from the bills patients receive when they’re treated by an out-of-network provider — even without their knowledge, often within an in-network facility.

  • Out-of-network coverage has obviously never been as generous as in-network coverage (that’s the whole point of creating a network), but as insurers pull back even further, more patients will likely find themselves on the hook for even bigger bills.

 

Hospitals led healthcare industry hiring in September

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http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181005/NEWS/181009931

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Month after month this year, the ambulatory sector has led the pack when it comes to healthcare industry hiring. But hospitals managed to push ahead in September to take the top spot.

Hospitals added 12,000 jobs last month, 47% of total healthcare hiring, and easily beating out ambulatory’s 10,300 jobs. Healthcare overall added a healthy 25,700 jobs in September, 23% fewer than the 33,200 jobs added in August, but still well above July’s 16,700 new hires, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ newest jobs report released Friday.

The September jobs report ticked the U.S. unemployment rate down to 3.7%, the lowest it’s been since 1969. A total of 134,000 new jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month. Healthcare hiring trailed that of professional and business services, which added 54,000 jobs, but beat out transportation and warehousing, which added 23,800 new jobs. The construction industry made 23,000 new hires.

Ambulatory sector hiring was weak in September compared with its robust showing for much of the year. Physicians’ offices added the most jobs, at 4,100—800 fewer than in August. Home health added 2,200 jobs, 72% fewer than the month before. Dental office hiring, which has been weak in recent months, shed 500 jobs.

Outpatient care centers added 1,000 jobs in September, while offices of other health practitioners added 2,000.

Nursing and residential care facilities added 3,400 jobs in September, 13% fewer than in August. Within that sector, other residential care facilities added 1,400 jobs, and community care facilities for the elderly made 1,100 new hires. Nursing care facilities, a typically weak hiring area this year, made 200 new hires in September. Residential mental health facilities added 700 jobs.