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GOP faces pressure on community health funding
Congress has knocked one big item off of its health care to-do list, but there are some other controversial issues lawmakers will need to tackle.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program was funded for six years in the stopgap government funding bill that keeps the government open until Feb. 8, but another major health-care program needs to be extended as well: funding for community health centers.
That is one of the items that could get wrapped up in a future government funding bill, either ahead of the Feb. 8 deadline or in a longer-term spending bill down the road.
Democrats have started hammering home the need for community health center funding.
“I’m very glad we were able to pass the extension of children’s health care, but now we need to work together to tackle those other critical health care issues that Republicans have now allowed to expire, because there’s no excuse for leaving families wondering whether their local health care center will shut its doors,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on Tuesday.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) has pushed back on the idea Republicans are to blame, noting that community health center funding was in a bill House Republicans passed in November but that the Senate did not take up.
“Republicans support community health centers and are continuing to work to fund the program for the long term,” Walden wrote in Morning Consult. “I know the ongoing debates have not been easy on the workers at these facilities and the families that rely on them for vital medical care, and I share their frustrations.”
On Monday, the Senate will hold a vote on a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a major priority for anti-abortion groups. The bill is not expected to be able to get the 60 votes needed to advance, but it could pose a tough vote both for some red state Democrats and for Republicans who support abortion rights.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and top Democrats are also pushing to pass a pair of bipartisan ObamaCare fixes aimed at stabilizing markets and bringing down premiums.
Those measures are opposed by House conservatives, but Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has shown some openness to at least one of the bills, which provides funding known as reinsurance to bring down premiums.
13 health systems with strong finances
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/13-health-systems-with-strong-finances-012317.html
Here are 13 health systems with strong operational metrics and solid financial positions, according to recent reports from Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global 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. Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a strong market position, healthy liquidity, moderate leverage and good debt metrics, according to Moody’s.
2. Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s and an “AA-” rating and stable outlook with S&P. The system has stable operating performance, balance sheet growth and a favorable market position, according to Moody’s.
3. Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has strong cash flow margins and a favorable business position as the largest nonprofit health system in Texas, according to Moody’s.
4. Milwaukee-based Children’s Hospital and Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a strong balance sheet and is the dominant provider of tertiary and quaternary pediatric services in southeastern Wisconsin, according to Moody’s.
5. Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has healthy margins and a strong market position, according to Moody’s.
6. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. Mayo has an excellent clinical reputation and diversified revenue across multiple locations, states and types of hospitals, according to Moody’s.
7. Mercy Health in St. Louis, Mo., has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s and an “AA-” rating and stable outlook with S&P. The health system has solid debt service coverage and strong balance sheet metrics, according to Moody’s.
8. Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial HealthCare has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a prominent and growing market position in the Chicago region, a strong investment position, good margins and manageable leverage, according to Moody’s.
9. San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has strong balance sheet measures and a fundamentally stable and strong strategic position, according to Moody’s.
10. Stanford (Calif.) Health Care has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a strong market position as one of two major academic medical centers in the Bay Area, has a reputation for clinical excellence and research, and is in a service area with strong population growth and high wealth levels, according to Moody’s.
11. Iowa City-based University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics has an “Aa2” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a broad market with growing patient volumes and geographic reach for its high-acuity services. Moody’s expects the health system’s expense control initiatives to continue to gain traction through fiscal year 2018.
12. Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The health system has a strong market position, solid operating margins and limited debt burden, according to Moody’s.
13. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System has an “Aa3” rating and stable outlook with Moody’s. The system has a leading market position in Connecticut, solid liquidity, moderate capital needs and manageable leverage, according to Moody’s.
Geisinger, Dignity Health among first hospitals to pilot Apple’s medical records system
Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System, San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine will be among the first 12 hospitals nationwide to pilot Apple’s medical records system, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Here are six things to know about the pilot program.
1. Apple announced its intent Jan. 24 to integrate patient health records into its Health app to make it easier for consumers to review their medical data. IPhone users would need to download the 11.3 “beta” version of iOS to access the feature, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
2. While many hospitals and health systems already provide patient portals and other programs for patients to access their health information, Apple aims to embed patient data from multiple providers into the iPhone’s main system. This “deep integration” function could help improve smartphone users’ health by allowing patients to grant permission for other app developers to use the data to help provide the best deals on medications and connect patients taking the same medications, among other features, the report states.
3. Because the health records are stored on the patient’s device, users can send that information to any provider they choose — even those whose EHR systems are not directly compatible with the system the patient’s primary provider uses, according to Cheryl Pegus, MD, director of the division of general internal medicine and clinical innovation at the New York City-based NYU School of Medicine.
4. The challenge Apple and other tech companies with similar aspirations face, according to Dr. Pegus, is designing systems that do not inundate patients with irrelevant information.
“The key is to find a way to utilize this health data where someone puts in the right algorithms that really cause the most relevant data to bubble to the top so then you can message it how you want to. If that can happen, that’s going to be a great use,” Dr. Pegus said.
5. It is unclear if Apple’s medical records system will be able to synchronize physicians’ notes, the report states. The health records data will reside on Apple servers unless a patient’s phone automatically backs up the data to the company’s iCloud service.
6. Other hospitals involved in the pilot program include Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center; Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; and Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine.
To view the full list of participants, click here.
Citing cost, BCBS North Carolina CEO Patrick Conway comes out against Carolinas, UNC merger
The health systems touted the benefit of better leverage to negotiate deals with insurers when the proposed merger was announced in August.
BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina CEO Patrick Conway has come out against the merger between UNC Health Care and the Carolinas HealthCare System.
Should the deal go through, Conway said in a January 24 letter to the CEOs of the health systems, the cost to consumers would rise.
“Blue Cross NC has a responsibility to our customers to help slow rising healthcare costs,” Conway said in the letter. “After a thorough review of independent research which shows that when healthcare systems combine costs for consumers go up, Blue Cross NC cannot support your proposed combination.”
Conway told CEOs Bill Roper of UNC and Gene Woods of the Carolinas system that he was open to continued dialogue.
In August when the proposed merger was announced, executives of the two healthcare systems touted the benefit of the merger in giving them leverage to negotiate better deals with insurance companies and vendors.
Also questioning the deal is the UNC Board of Governors, according to The News & Observer.
UNC Board of Governors member Tom Fetzer, former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, reportedly sent an email to the board chairman on January 18, questioning whether the proposed partnership was being conducted legally, as the board was to be apprised of any policy changes.
The merger would result in efficiencies and $14 billion in annual revenue, according to the health systems.
Conway, MD, formerly headed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center. He was named president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina on December 5.
Lehigh Valley Health Network’s ‘Moneyball’ marketing strategy attracts insured patients
Health system’s marketing team uses data to target higher-paying commercially insured consumers to balance growing Medicare demographic.
As providers use analytics to drive population health, so are marketing departments taking advantage of data and social media to target new consumers.
Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania, for instance, is netting an increase in appointments from consumers who have commercial insurance.
An estimated 10,000 clicks on targeted Facebook and other social media ads have converted to 4,500 new consumers; 60 percent of these are commercially insured, according to Dan Lavelle, the administrator of Marketing at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
“To me, that’s the moneyball number,” said John Marzano, Vice President Marketing and Public Affairs. “We kind of coined this ‘healthcare marketing moneyball’ after what Billy Beane did in baseball.”
“‘Moneyball’ is the book and movie centered on Billy Beane’s chase for a win using baseball statistics. Beane, then general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is now executive vice president of baseball operations and minority owner in the team.
Healthcare marketing has changed dramatically in the last five years, and those hired to do the job need to keep up, according to Marzano, who with Lavelle, is speaking at HIMSS18 in Las Vegas.
“Five years ago, we’d talk about which doctor to put on a billboard,” Marzano said. “Historically we were probably 75 to 80 percent traditional marketing. And now we’re probably almost 50/50 digital vs. traditional. We’re using the same dollars for the same fiscal years.”
Lehigh Valley works closely with clinical leaders to target message campaigns for such services as prostate exams. Banner ads appeared on Facebook. When someone in nearby Hazleton did an online search for prostate cancer, the program in Allentown popped up.
“We invest ad dollars to win that top page search,” Marzano said.
The health system has recently run an estimated 22 campaigns for mammography, orthopedics and hernia screenings, among others.
“Digital is such an immediate thing,” Lavelle said. “We can track all of these things to understand not only how many people click on an ad, but how many made appointments.”
One reason to drive commercial business is demographics. An aging baby boomer population will grow the Medicare business in the area to 50 percent of the market. At a lower reimbursement rate, Lehigh Valley needs the commercial dollars to balance that out.
Gone are the days when hospitals could tout their benefits through advertising alone. The competition, and in Pennsylvania UPMC is creeping ever eastward, demands that the chief marketing officer become friendly with chief information officer to leverage data to grow the hospital’s population.
“It’s not about us anymore, it’s about the consumer,” Marzano said. “We need to be there with the information. They have to select us rather than competition.”
HENRY KOTULA 