Data indicate hospital operational logjams haven’t ceased after the public health emergency (updated)
Note: The fourth section of this article has been updated with news of proposed mandatory staffing ratios for long-term care facilities. Some of the problems that strained hospital operations during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic have eased, but not enough to mark a true industrywide recovery, a recently released report suggests. Notably, the process…
Children’s hospitals swim against the tide to improve the health of their patients and communities
As the nation’s pediatric hospitals strive to keep kids healthy, they face obstacles that reflect the difficulty of enacting structural changes in care delivery. Even pediatric hospitals that are eager to engage in value-based payment (VBP) models can have a hard time establishing the type of network that allows them to affect the holistic health…
Cyberattack leaves hospitals scrambling in several states
A recent attack was the latest to illustrate the potential of cybercriminals to cause havoc across an interstate health system. The Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings system incurred a ransomware attack Aug. 3 that temporarily required some patients to be diverted from emergency departments and relegated hospitals to using paper records and incorporating other downtime…
The latest on hospital finances: Signs of improvement, but margins remain tight
Industry-level hospital financial insights reflect the mixed results of a recovery that’s in progress but is expected to be a long slog. In a 2023 midyear report (login required), Moody’s Investors Service noted that margins are below 3% for a third of the company’s rated hospitals. Before the pandemic, only about 6% had margins in…
House committee approves bill requiring national provider identifiers for off-campus outpatient departments
A bill with widespread support in Congress would affect hospital billing procedures at off-campus outpatient departments if it becomes law. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce on July 12 unanimously approved legislation called the Transparency in Billing Act, which states that starting in 2024, hospital claims for items and services furnished in off-campus…
10 Vital Responses to Healthcare Disruption
Disruption is reverberating throughout the healthcare industry, and it’s incumbent on legacy organizations to develop strategic responses for the benefit of their consumers, their communities and themselves. With that overarching challenge becoming ever more pressing, HFMA’s 2023 Spring Thought Leadership Retreat brought together leaders from across the industry May 4-5 in Atlanta to consider approaches…
Report quantifies the financial impact of certain health plan business practices on providers
As hospitals seek to regain their financial footing coming out of the pandemic, they may find themselves stymied by commercial payer policies, according to a new report. “It’s true that commercial payers might generate more net revenue than public payers on a per-case basis,” Crowe states in a report it recently published. “But at what…
News Briefs: The expiration of the COVID-19 PHE brings an end to key provisions
The termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) on May 11 meant providers lost many of the accommodations and regulatory flexibilities that were in place since Jan. 31, 2020. For example, Medicare’s 20% add-on payment for treating COVID-19 cases in the inpatient setting no longer is available. With reported cases and hospitalizations steadily trending…
News Briefs: Medicare’s proposed FY24 update to inpatient payments falls short, hospitals say
Hospitals are less than pleased with Medicare’s proposed FY24 payment increase for inpatient care. In regulations released April 10, the net inpatient payment update is 2.8% after factoring in a mandatory productivity adjustment of -0.2 percentage points. As usual, the update would be reduced for any hospital that does not fulfill quality-reporting requirements or qualify…
5 issues that are keeping healthcare compliance professionals up at night
Rarely has the compliance landscape been more muddled or presented more of a challenge for healthcare organizations. “I’ve been a compliance officer for about 20 years now, and I’ve been in healthcare forever,” said Kirsten Wild, RN, a nurse by background who now owns a healthcare compliance consultancy. “But the volume and the pace of…