Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, the only hospital in Berkeley, has announced it will be closing in the year 2030. The hospital is not compliant with future statewide earthquake standards. The building would have to get retrofitted for seismic stability by 2030, but Sutter Health doesn’t want to deal with the renovation.
In a press release issued at 11:35 p.m. Eastern time, the wounded unicorn said CMS has moved to revoke the CLIA certificate for Theranos’ laboratory in Newark, California. Company executives — mainly founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes — will be barred from owning, operating or directing a clinical lab for two years once the sanctions take effect 60 days from now.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/KevinMD/57318?xid=fb_o_
Free-market healthcare won’t last long in modern society, says Saurabh Jha, MD
Though recent payer mergers will have a big impact on the industry, it’s doubtful that impact will be related to provider reimbursement. SafaviThat’s according to Kaveh Safavi, senior managing director for consulting firm Accenture’s global healthcare business.
Safavi says the goal behind the payer mergers is to reduce the cost of doing business, not to reduce reimbursement. Insurance is a highly regulated business, and payers are trying to remain profitable and sustainable over time, he says.
“The profit margin for payers is typically 5%. If they’re going to plan for the future, payers have to lower the cost of doing business. By merging, these payers can become more competitive and keep their administrative costs low.”
Profit margins at St. Louis area hospitals rose to 4.5 percent in 2014 due to increased emergency room and outpatient visits and steep declines in charity care, according to a new report from the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, an organization that represents area employers.
While profits increased, hospitals were less charitable, the organization found. In 2014 area hospitals spent 2.1 percent of their operating revenue on charity care, or free or reduced care for low-income individuals. In the previous year, area hospitals spent 2.93 percent of operating revenue on charity care. That’s a nearly 28 percent decline in charity care in the region, according to Karen Roth, author of the report.
For some health care advocates, a decrease in charity care is problematic because nonprofit hospitals are tax-exempt based on an expectation that they provide free care to those in need. However, the Internal Revenue Service and the state of Missouri do not have any requirements regarding how much charity care a nonprofit hospital must provide.
