Healthcare Spending

Hospital Finances Break Even as PHE Ends, Medicaid Unwinds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Finances broke even as the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ended, leaving hospitals with little financial flexibility, healthcare consulting firm Kaufman Hall reports. The median year-to-date...

Clinic Staffing Costs Up 10% This Year

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Clinic staffing costs continue to increase despite some stabilization of overall finances, pushing medical groups and health systems to address labor shortages. AMGA recently reported in the...

Quality, Costs of Care Similar Between DOs and MDs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

A new study demonstrates that doctors of osteopathic medicine, or DOs, have similar patient outcomes and costs of care to doctors of medicine (MDs). Patient mortality rates, hospital readmissions, and...

Racial and Ethnic Health Inequities Led to $421B in Excess Spending

by Victoria Bailey

The economic burden of health inequities ranged from $421 billion to $978 billion in 2018, suggesting more resources are needed to improve health equity for racial and ethnic minorities and people with...

AHA Makes Hospital Price Transparency Suggestions to Congress

by Jacqueline LaPointe

This week, the American Hospital Association (AHA) told Congress ways to improve hospital price transparency initiatives and compliance. The United States House Ways and Means Committee earlier this...

Hospital Revenue Growth Outpaced Rising Expenses in March

by Victoria Bailey

Revenue growth exceeded expense increases in March 2023, resulting in positive hospital operating margins for the first time in 15 months, according to a report from Syntellis Performance...

CFPB Report Identifies Pitfalls of Medical Credit Cards, Loans

by Jacqueline LaPointe

In the age of high deductibles, providers are increasingly turning to financial institutions and fintech companies to offer medical credit cards and installment loans to their patients. However, a new...

Hospital-Physician Integration Leads to More Intense Cardiac Care

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Patients who see cardiologists employed by hospitals are significantly more likely to receive high-intensity, hospital-based coronary interventions compared to patients who see independent doctors,...

Razor Thin Margins Leave Hospitals Vulnerable to a Recession

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Hospital operating margins are stabilizing after a turbulent couple of years. However, margins remain below pre-pandemic levels, which makes hospitals and health systems vulnerable to a possible...

Health Disparities in Heart Failure Admissions Cost Over $60M

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Health inequity is costing the Medicare program more than $60 million on preventable heart failure hospital admissions, suggests a new study out of Tulane University. The study published in the most...

Skilled Nursing Facility Use Increased Following PHE Waiver

by Victoria Bailey

Skilled nursing facility (SNF) episodes for Medicare beneficiaries without preceding acute care increased during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine...

CMS Cracks Down on Hospital Price Transparency Compliance

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS is cracking down on hospital price transparency compliance — or lack thereof. The federal agency announced yesterday updated enforcement procedures, including earlier and automatic civil...

Uncompensated Care, Area Disadvantage Impair Safety-Net Margins

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Safety-net hospitals with the highest levels of uncompensated care and area socioeconomic disadvantage have lower margins compared to other safety-net providers, according to a recent study out of...

AHA: Financial Challenges Continue as Hospital Expenses Rise

by Victoria Bailey

The rising costs of care are creating persistent financial challenges for hospitals and health systems, with hospital expenses growing faster than Medicare reimbursement over the last four years,...

Price Transparency Rule Compliance is Growing But Needs More Oversight

by Victoria Bailey

More than two years after the hospital price transparency rule went into effect, provider compliance is increasing, according to a report from Turquoise Health. The software company’s Price...

House Oversight Panel Investigates COVID-19 Relief Allocation

by Jacqueline LaPointe

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Representative Nick Langworthy (R-NY) recently launched an investigation into how HHS allocated COVID-19 relief funds to...

Lower Clinical Spending Needed in BPCI-A Program to Avoid Losses

by Victoria Bailey

Hospitals and physician groups participating in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI-A) program would have had to reduce clinical spending by 3.7 percent to 8.2 percent during the...

Major Credit Bureaus Remove Medical Debt Collections Under $500

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Three major credit bureaus are giving consumers a break when it comes to medical debt. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion jointly announced yesterday that any medical debt collection with an initial...

Hospital Chargemaster Heavily Influences Cash Prices, Payer Rates

by Jacqueline LaPointe

While neither patients nor payers typically pay what hospitals charge for services, a new Health Affairs study finds that those hospital chargemaster rates still matter. Researchers at Johns Hopkins...

How CMMI Value-Based Care Models Have Impacted Costs, Quality

by Victoria Bailey

Many value-based care models have helped generate savings, reduce costs, and improve care quality, but models must incorporate health equity and clinical outcomes to achieve true value for all,...