Michele and Igor speak with Andy Slavitt, former acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under former President Barack Obama—and Twitter hero—about the latest efforts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the form of the Graham-Cassidy bill. He reminds listeners why health care is far more personal and significant than partisan politics and how to work toward universal coverage.
After the latest failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the Senate, Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) declared that they would only support a new budget resolution that enabled them to keep trying to force through their own health care bill. The Senate has not had to meet the 60-vote standard to pass ACA repeal because of the budget reconciliation process, which lets the Senate pass legislation with a simple majority vote. This process began with reconciliation instructions included in the fiscal year 2017 budget that Congress passed in January 2017, but those instructions expire on September 30.
While the new FY 2018 budget resolution from the Senate Budget Committee retreats from ACA repeal to some extent—after massive public opposition—it would still enable Congress to revive major elements of ACA repeal using reconciliation. Here are three ways the proposed Senate budget supports ACA repeal.
The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over both tax policy and several federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. If the Senate wanted to limit the scope of a reconciliation bill to tax policy, the budget resolution could give instructions to the Senate Finance Committee that only cover revenues. Instead, the budget instructs the Finance Committee to produce legislation that increases deficits by up to $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
Since deficit changes can be accomplished via changes to both spending and revenues, the Finance Committee could use this reconciliation instruction to repeal ACA-related taxes as well as much of the spending that helps people purchase health insurance under current law. Politico reports that “95 percent of health care policy” goes through the Senate Finance Committee, according to a Republican Congressional staffer discussing ACA repeal. As a result, the staffer said, “it’s not like we couldn’t slip it in anyway.”
Every dollar the Finance Committee cuts from health care could be used to pay for tax cuts for the rich that would be on top of the $1.5 trillion tax cut financed by deficits. This reconciliation instruction could let Congress pass a huge deficit-financed tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, combined with major elements of ACA repeal, in a single omnibus reconciliation bill. If the Finance Committee’s overall bill does not increase deficits by more than $1.5 trillion over 10 years, the Senate could pass it on a party-line vote under reconciliation.
Aside from the Finance Committee, the only other committee involved in ACA repeal in the Senate is the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Senate budget resolution does not give a reconciliation instruction to the HELP Committee, which signals a meaningful retreat from full ACA repeal. Nevertheless, the Finance Committee instruction would still enable the Senate to change major parts of the law, which could include nullifying the ACA mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance, repealing the ACA-related taxes that finance the coverage expansion, and making all of the Medicaid cuts in earlier ACA repeal legislation, such as repealing the Medicaid expansion and making further cuts by turning the program into a block grant.
The Senate budget resolution further smooths the path for ACA repeal with a deficit-neutral reserve fund for “repealing or replacing” the ACA. This allows Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) to adjust the aggregates that are included in the budget resolution, such as overall spending and revenue levels, to accommodate ACA repeal. This reserve fund helps the Senate majority avoid points of order that could otherwise create hurdles for passing a future health care bill. A similar reserve fund was also included in the FY 2017 budget resolution.
Budget resolutions often include many reserve funds that are mostly designed to signal rhetorical support for an issue. Not only does the reserve fund for health legislation smooth the way for ACA repeal, it also shows that supporters of the Senate budget continue to endorse ACA repeal even after the FY 2017 reconciliation instructions expire on September 30.
Even if Congress does not go after the ACA using reconciliation instructions in the FY 2018 budget, the deficits from the tax cuts the Senate budget enables will be used by the ACA’s opponents to attack the law in the future. Whipping up hysteria about budget deficits is a common tactic to advocate cuts to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and it is already being used to justify ACA repeal. When asked a question on CNN from a person who had recovered from substance abuse addiction and who worried about loss of Medicaid coverage for treatment for others suffering from addiction, Sen. Graham responded, “Let’s talk about $20 trillion of debt.”
If lawmakers increase the debt with the very tax cuts that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says will be “done by the end of the year,” it will add further fuel to their drive to slash programs for low- and middle-income Americans using reconciliation instructions in their next budget resolution for FY 2019. This will not be a long delay—the FY 2019 budget would be passed by April 15, 2018, if Congress follows the schedule for the regular budget process.
Lawmakers can cut taxes, increase deficits, and use those higher deficits to justify a renewed push to repeal the ACA, all before the 2018 midterm elections.
The window is closing for Congress to pass ACA repeal using the FY 2017 reconciliation instructions, but the Senate Budget Committee is reopening it with the FY 2018 budget. The quest to repeal the ACA—thereby cutting taxes for the wealthy, taking health insurance from tens of millions of Americans, eliminating protections for preexisting conditions, and driving up out-of-pocket costs—will continue if Congress passes the Senate budget resolution.
From uncertainty around the future of the ACA to dwindling reimbursement, hospitals and health systems across the nation are facing a myriad of challenges.
Four healthcare industry experts discussed some of the most pressing challenges facing healthcare organizations today at the Becker’s Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle conference in Chicago.
1. Hospitals across all credit rating categories are feeling financial pressure. A few years ago, hospitals with an A+ or higher credit rating typically had strong margins and a lot of options for improvement. “The big difference today is we’re seeing more hospitals that are struggling with operating margin, regardless of rating,” said Charles Alston, market executive and senior vice president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. To address this issue, hospitals and health systems must examine how to fix the problem and then determine how to sustain those results long term, he said.
2. Hospitals are faced with uncertainty around the future of health reform. “I’m really worried about the future of the ACA and how much bad debt we’re going to have,” said Charles Ayscue, senior vice president of finance and CFO of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health. “We’re going to see a lot more self pay and we don’t have the workforce to handle that self pay.” He said Mission Health is taking proactive steps to prepare for the influx of patients with high deductible health plans, with a focus on revenue cycle improvement. “We’ve tried our best to educate our physicians on documentation and coding,” he said.
3. Health system mergers can create new challenges. Chicago-based Presence Health was formed in 2011 through the merger of Resurrection Healthcare in Chicago and Provena Health in Mokena, Ill. Presence Health CFO Mark Rafalski said hospitals involved in the transaction operated on disparate IT systems, which led to some revenue cycle management issues. “We’ve struggled in the area of [claim] denials,” he said. In an effort to turn around its finances, Presence has made a lot of changes in its revenue cycle, including using analytics and outsourcing to key partners, said Mr. Rafalski.
4. Healthcare organizations need to simultaneously cut costs and innovate. Hospitals and health systems across the nation are facing cost pressure. “On the flipside, you have to change your strategy and innovate. You have to invest in the patient experience and the physician experience,” said Keith Lohkamp, senior director of industry strategy at Workday, a provider of cloud-based applications for finance and human resources. These competing priorities have fueled consolidation in the industry, as hospitals look for ways to drive efficiency and improve quality of care.
Philadelphia-based Temple University Health System reported an operating loss in the 12 months ended June 30, largely due to costs associated with the implementation of an Epic EHR system, according to recently released bondholder documents.
Temple University Health System reported revenues of $1.75 billion in fiscal year 2017, up from $1.64 billion in the year prior. Although the system reported revenue growth, rising expenses offset those gains.
The increase in expenses was largely attributable to higher than expected staffing costs related to the Epic EHR implementation. The health system spent $15.1 million on staffing needs related to the Epic go-live.
Temple University Health System Senior Vice President, Treasurer and CFO Robert Lux told The Inquirer the higher staffing costs were necessary, as it was vital “to give all the physicians and nurses all the right kind of elbow-to-elbow support they needed for there to be a smooth clinical implementation.”
The system ended the most recent fiscal year with an operating loss of $5.76 million, compared to an operating surplus of $4.36 million in the year prior.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/geisinger-s-operating-income-tumbles-34.html
Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger recorded an operating surplus of $109.6 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, down 34.6 percent from an operating surplus of $167.5 million in the year prior, according to recently released bondholder documents.
Geisinger’s revenues climbed 14.3 percent year over year to $6.3 billion in fiscal year 2017. The growth was primarily due to a 13.9 percent increase in patient service revenue and a 15.8 percent increase in premium revenue. Geisinger’s health plan membership climbed 5.8 percent year over year.
The system’s expenses also grew in the most recent fiscal year. Geisinger’s expenses totaled $6.2 billion in the most recent fiscal year, compared to expenses of $5.5 billion in the year prior.
“We view fiscal 2017 as a successful year for Geisinger,” Kevin Brennan, executive vice president and CFO of Geisinger, said in a statement to Becker’s Hospital Review. In addition to the growth in patient and premium revenues, Mr. Brennan said the system completed a successful $587 million bond offering in May and ended fiscal year 2017 with 242 days cash on hand.
“Fiscal 2017’s operating income reduction in comparison to the previous year reflects significant investments in operational improvement planning and the implementation of revenue growth and expense efficiency initiatives,” said Mr. Brennan. “Aside from launching innovative care redesign initiatives intended to ensure Geisinger’s long term success, we also successfully integrated the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (formerly The Commonwealth Medical College).”
Geisinger ended fiscal year 2017 with a net surplus of $444.5 million, compared to a net surplus of $667.3 million in fiscal year 2016.
HENRY KOTULA 