Prospect and Crozer-Keystone signed a definitive agreement in January. Under the agreement, Crozer-Keystone hospitals, its physician network and other facilities will become part of the Prospect network. Prospect has committed to keep all five Crozer-Keystone hospitals open and will make capital investments in the health system totaling at least $200 million over the next five years.
The authors analyzed Medicare data for about 3,000 acute care hospitals, of which 59 percent were nonprofit, 25 percent were for-profit and 16 percent were public. After adjusting for cost of living and the types of patients served, they found that more than half of all facilities lost money on patient-care services. Rural hospitals, small hospitals and major teaching hospitals tended to lose more money than urban hospitals and larger ones.
While reforms tied to the Affordable Care Act have most healthcare providers focusing on quality and efficiency, financial experts say the dramatic change in business model is driving improvement in credit ratings. But worries still persists about just how stable those changes are.
According to Martin Arrick, a managing director at Standard and Poor’s, said a number of factors are affecting ratings trends, although the outlook in general appears to improving. S&P had been negative on the healthcare sector a couple of years ago, mostly because of pressure on operating margins, but that outlook has since reverted back to stable.
“We still see pressure on operating margins, but there are two big things,” said Arrick. “One is that hospitals have done a good job containing costs and keeping their margins generally solid. Two is Medicaid expansion.”
The U.S. Is Failing in Infant Mortality, Starting at One Month Old
Many more babies die in the United States than you might think. In 2014, more than 23,000 infants died in their first year of life, or about six for every 1,000 born. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 other industrialized nations do better than the United States at keeping babies alive.
One of the component’s of Oliver’s weekly show is an in-depth investigation into the social, political and commercial issues troubling America. His most recent installment was on the debt buying and collection business. It has a ridiculously low bar of entry–“Last Week Tonight” incorporated such a company online in Mississippi for only $50. In many states, there is no license required to collect debts.
Among the most disturbing tactics of these debt-buying firms is to sue individual debtors–even if they have already had their debt dismissed through bankruptcy or barred by the statute of limitations. Those companies bet the defendants won’t show up in court, allowing them to win by default. These debt-buying firms can then legally garnish the debtors’ wages to satisfy the judgment.
https://www.propublica.org/article/who-makes-sure-hospital-mergers-do-no-harm-almost-nobody
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HENRY KOTULA 