Republican plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with their own design have put healthcare CEOs in a state of “high anxiety,” according to a recent survey conducted by Modern Healthcare. The first-quarter survey of Modern Healthcare’s CEO Power Panel received 81 responses from 110 of the CEOs contacted. It also […]
Some provisions of Medicare’s first mandatory bundled payment model, Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR), were recently delayed from February 18 to March 21, but new mandatory models still will launch in July, according to federal officials. The delay did not affect the CJR expansion model—the Surgical Hip and Femur Fracture Treatment (SHFFT) model—or […]
Healthcare spending increases slowed down in 2016. However, federal actuaries predict spending to increase at a faster rate in the coming years. Here is a quick summary of spending increases in the last three years: 2014—5.5 percent 2015—5.5 percent 2016—4.8 percent Spending increases are expected to accelerate to 5.4 percent in 2017 and […]
Provider hiring dipped in January, fueling speculation that “repeal and replace” efforts will affect hospitals’ and physicians’ financial health. The totals for January, reported by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), are as follows: Hospitals—4,200 positions in January compared to 10,000+ jobs per month over the last two years Outpatient settings—11,000 in January, […]
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) released an assessment of possible and/or upcoming policy changes under the new administration. We have been waiting for HFMA to speak on ramifications to the non-insurance side of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so we welcome the report and provide a portion of it here. The new secretaries […]
(Originally published in Nasdaq’s MarketInsite and written by Gordon Clark, President and CEO of iProtean, now part of Veralon) The volunteer board members of not-for-profit hospitals and health systems are smart, prominent and accomplished people drawn from the community. Yet, our research shows only 27 percent of hospital and health system board members feel they […]
Modern Healthcare recently released a report on “cyberdefense,” and because this is a timely topic of interest to our subscribers, we present excerpts from the report below. A link to the full article appears at the end of this blog/newsletter. “Cybersecurity platforms that employ advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics […]
A recent American Hospital Association study reported that uncompensated care costs (UCC) in 2015 were the smallest share of hospital costs (4.2 percent of total expenses) in at least 25 years. The $35.7 billion in 2015 UCC was the lowest amount since 2007. (Uncompensated Hospital Care Cost Fact Sheet, American Hospital Association, December 2016) […]
Both Democrats and Republicans recognize the overwhelming need to control healthcare expenses while maintaining and improving quality of care. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pledged that by 2018, half of traditional Medicare payments would be based on value-based payment models that incentivize high quality, low cost care as […]
In the final days of 2016, CMS finalized new mandatory bundled payment models for cardiac and orthopedic care, set to launch this year. The final rule also made several modest adjustments to the existing Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model (finalized in late 2015 and currently underway). The final rule is published in the […]