Providence St. Joseph Health System Merger Creates $100 Million Mental Health Initiative
Tag Archives: Health System
Profit margins at hospitals rise as charity care falls in the St. Louis region
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.
Photographer: Getty Images Hospitals That Mess Up Are Urged to Confess
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-10/hospitals-that-mess-up-are-urged-to-confess
Transparency is touted as better for patients, families, and the bottom line. Some malpractice lawyers are skeptical.
12 hospital closures so far in 2016
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/12-hospital-closures-so-far-in-2016-june22.html
Hospitals across the nation face a myriad of financial challenges, including underpayments from Medicare and Medicaid and new reimbursement cuts.
These financial challenges, combined with other issues such as declining patient volumes, have caused more than 60 rural hospitals to close over the past five years.
Below are 12 hospitals closures reported so far this year.
CHI to exit health insurance business
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/chi-to-exit-health-insurance-business.html
CHI ended the first nine months of fiscal 2016 with an operating loss of $265.6 million on revenue of $12.2 billion. In April, S&P and Moody’s Investors Service lowered their ratings on CHI’s debt due to the system’s persistent losses.
The top 8 takeaways from HFMA’s 2016 National Institute
When close to 5,000 healthcare professionals get together to talk numbers, it’s worth paying attention. The Healthcare Finance Management Association Annual National Institute took place in Las Vegas this week. Given the seismic changes in motion relative to the business model of hospitals and healthcare delivery networks, this is likely (and perhaps surprisingly) one of the more important and interesting conferences that will take place in healthcare this year.
In the $3 trillion market which is healthcare, roughly $1 trillion flows directly through hospitals. But the story isn’t what you think it is, as average operating margins are only 2 percent and inpatient volumes have been declining at a rate of close to 2 percent annually for the last few years. With margins that small, volume declining, and this much at stake, clearly the game is going to change in a big way. The bottom line is there is a truly stunning shift in focus taking place in finance, and that was evident at the HMFA conference this year.
This is a landscape view of some of the hot topics, but I think the bottom line is there has never been a better time for new ideas and true collaboration relative to solving healthcare’s most fundamental puzzle — figuring out how to deliver the best and most cost effective care possible to everyone, every day, in every community.
There is a line in a song from the musical Hamilton that says “Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now.” I think that captures the mindset we need from every stakeholder at the table right now. This is a great time to be in healthcare, perhaps the best.
Justice Department joins lawsuit against Prime Healthcare
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/justice-department-joins-lawsuit-against-prime-healthcare/419849/
The U.S. Justice Department recently filed notice in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that it is partly intervening in a whistle-blower case against Prime Healthcare Services. The whistle-blower lawsuit alleges that Prime Healthcare fraudulently billed Medicare for beneficiaries admitted as inpatients instead of treating them as outpatients.
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/doj-accuses-prime-of-driving-up-medicare-admissions/421800/
GA, CA Hospitals Sue Blue Cross Plan for Sending ER Reimbursements To Patients
That’s costing the hospitals money since patients don’t always turn over the funds, according to the lawsuits, filed by Polk Medical Center in northwest Georgia and Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles.
Judge sides with hospitals over California ballot initiative to cap executive pay
It’s NC Hospitals vs. Koch Brothers in CON Battle
The push to eradicate certificate of need statues in several states is spearheaded by a political advocacy group that claims a repeal of the regulations would “lower healthcare costs and improve medical access for millions of citizens.”
HENRY KOTULA 