http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/21-statistics-on-high-deductible-health-plans.html
Hospital and health system executives are well aware of the affects high-deductible health plans have had on hospital finances, from patient collections to bad debt. To help quantify the impact of increasing patient financial obligations on the business of healthcare, here are 21 statistics to know about high-deductible health plans.
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/without-medicaid-expansion-texas-hospitals-left-holding-bag
Should Texas ever decide to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, its hospitals would be spared about $358 million a year in costs tied to uncompensated care, a new study has found.
The research was conducted by the Florida-based consulting firm Health Management Associates on behalf of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, The Dallas Morning News has reported. The report was not immediately available online.
If Medicaid were expanded, about 9 percent of the approximately $4 billion a year Texas’ hospitals spend on uncompensated care could be saved, the newspaper reported. Health Management Associates (HMA) predicted about 668,000 Texans out of the 1.1 million eligible for Medicaid coverage would enroll if eligibility were expanded.
But, quoting the report, the newspaper said that Texas lawmakers are not inclined to expand Medicaid anytime soon.
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/c-suite-feels-ripple-effect-medicaid-expansion-study-says
Medicaid expansion is making a difference as to whether hospitals are investing in clinics, new equipment and hiring new staff, or looking at the status quo and layoffs, according to a recent report by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.
Hospitals in Medicaid expansion states have realized a drop in uncompensated care; an increase in institutional financial security; new community efforts to integrate and improve care; and innovative programs to expand access to specialists, according to the study.
CEOs who head hospitals in both expansion and non-expansion states said they saw a drop in uninsured rates in expansion states that was not as dramatic in non-expansion states.
This has translated to a decline in uninsured patient stays by close to 40 percent. Non expansion states reported a decline of 2.9 percent.
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2016/06/07/the-ripple-effects-of-medicaid-expansion/
The 19 states that continue to decline federal funding to offer Medicaid coverage to more uninsured residents are missing out on more than just improvements to their uninsured and uncompensated care rates. In fact, the ability of providers in Medicaid expansion states to deliver care to their most vulnerable patients has notably improved.
Residents of Medicaid expansion states—both adults and children—are more likely to have insuranceand thus more likely to have a usual source of care and less likely to have unmet health care needs or problems paying medical bills. Furthermore, Medicaid expansion has helped the financial bottom line forsafety-net clinics and hospitals because more of their patients can afford to pay for their care.
http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/will-medicaid-expansion-holdouts-finally-give-in/419439/
Legislators in some non-expansion states are currently under fire from state hospital associations, and in some cases state governors, to finally expand their Medicaid programs. Will the holdouts cave under the pressure? As of March 14, there were 19 non-expansion states, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. Hospitals in those states are not faring as well as their counterparts in states that have expanded their Medicaid programs.
Operating income across Pennsylvania’s 35 for-profit and 135 nonprofit hospitals decreased about 5 percent in fiscal 2014 from $1.8 billion to $1.7 billion, according to new data released by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.
Report claims that between 2015 and 2024, uninsured people in states not expanding Medicaid would rack up to $266 billion in uncompensated care.
HENRY KOTULA 