Healthcare Spending

Just A Few Health Systems Dominate Medicare Inpatient Spending

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Medicare inpatient spending is highly concentrated in many parts of the US, causing concerns about the impact hospital consolidation will have on prices in the future. In 10 states plus the District...

Higher Surgical Volume Led to Better Patient Outcomes, Lower Costs

by Victoria Bailey

Orthopedic surgeons with higher surgical volume generated better patient outcomes and lower costs for hip and knee replacements, according to data from the healthcare analytics platform Clarify...

Healthcare Private Equity Down But Not Out, Report Finds

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Healthcare private equity activity remained strong despite rising interest rates, high inflation, and other market factors, according to a new report from Bain & Company. During the first half of...

People Have Less Trouble Paying Medical Bills, But Concerns Remain

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Paying medical bills has gotten a little easier for patients, according to a new report from HHS. The report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the percentage...

Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions Regain Momentum

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Healthcare merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has regained momentum, ending 2022 with 53 announced transactions and more than $45 billion in total transacted revenue, reports Kaufman Hall. The...

Consumers are Frustrated with Healthcare Billing Correction Process

by Victoria Bailey

Consumers are frustrated with the healthcare billing process and face challenges when it comes to identifying and solving billing errors, according to a survey from Zelis and Hanover Research. The...

Bundled Payment Model Reduced Spending on Medical, Surgical Episodes

by Victoria Bailey

Participating in Medicare’s Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) initiative was associated with cost savings for medical and surgical episodes, but savings varied among hospitals and...

Affordability, Labor Shortages Top Issues for Healthcare Execs

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Confronting affordability and solving clinical labor shortages are among the top pivotal issues for healthcare executives in 2023, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers...

Financial Challenges for Health Systems Will Likely Persist in 2023

by Victoria Bailey

Hospitals and health systems will likely face another year of financial challenges in 2023 as they expect to continue grappling with inflation, staffing shortages, and low margins, according to data...

Nurse Practitioners Have Lower Productivity than Physicians, Study Finds

by Victoria Bailey

Nurse practitioners (NPs) use more medical resources but achieve worse patient health outcomes compared to physicians, highlighting the productivity variations between the two professions, according to...

Exploring the Role of Supply Chain Management in Healthcare

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Cutting healthcare costs has become a mantra for many hospitals and physician practices, especially as payers start to tie claims reimbursement amounts to quality and cost performance. Many organizations...

Medicare Part B Spending on Laboratory Tests Totaled $9.3B in 2021

by Victoria Bailey

Medicare Part B spending on laboratory tests increased by 17 percent between 2020 and 2021, resulting from high volumes of COVID-19 tests, genetic tests, and chemistry tests, a report from the Office...

Medical Bills Are Confusing for Nearly 40% of Adults, Survey Finds

by Victoria Bailey

Almost 40 percent of Americans are confused by their medical bills, with many feeling uncertain about what they are being billed for or if they will be able to pay, according to a survey conducted by...

National Healthcare Spending Grows 2.7% as COVID-19 Relief Runs Dry

by Jacqueline LaPointe

National healthcare spending is slowing down in the US compared to a significant 10.3 percent increase in 2020. However, healthcare costs remain high as US health expenditures reach $4.3...

Payment Rate Policies Contributed to Lower Medicare Spending Growth

by Victoria Bailey

Changes in Medicare payment policies and varying beneficiary characteristics drove the reduction in Medicare spending growth over the last decade, according to a study published in JAMA Health...

Atrium Joins Advocate Aurora in Hospital Mega-Merger Deal

by Jacqueline LaPointe

Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health have finalized a hospital mega-merger, creating a 67-hospital system across parts of the South and Midwest. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Atrium announced on...

Value-Based Payment Models May Help Curb High Healthcare Spending

by Victoria Bailey

As healthcare spending escalates in the US, stakeholders have started looking at value-based payment models to address rising costs, but many payments are still tied to fee-for-service models,...

Inflation Driving Financial Challenges for Consumers, Health Systems

by Victoria Bailey

More than 70 million adults feel unprepared to pay for healthcare costs, while health systems are facing a tight labor market and ongoing supply chain issues, highlighting the financial repercussions...

HRSA Opens Portal for Late Provider Relief Fund Reporting

by Victoria Bailey

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has opened the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) portal to allow late reporting from healthcare providers on how they used PRF payments. The portal is...

NYC Nonprofit Hospitals Saw High Tax Breaks, Low Community Investments

by Victoria Bailey

New York City nonprofit hospitals had a fair share deficit of $727 million in 2019, with nine major facilities spending less on community investments than they received in tax breaks, according to a...