Annual Conference Day 1: HFMA, AHA leaders hold forth on the state of the healthcare industry
HFMA’s 2024 Annual Conference began Monday afternoon with HFMA’s Ann Jordan and the American Hospital Association’s Rick Pollack rallying attendees to address the profound challenges and opportunities facing the industry. To start, Jordan, HFMA’s president and CEO, highlighted the conference theme, “A New Frontier in Health.” Frontier is “an exciting and unsettling word that really…
Saying goodbye to the BMI
In this episode, Dr. Holly Ann Russell, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and medical director for the Center of Community Health and Prevention, discusses why providers should stop using the Body Mass Index as a health measure and why weighing patients at every visit is unnecessary.
Hospitals can bring their case on disproportionate share hospital payments to the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court granted hospitals’ request that it hear their appeal about the formula for determining Medicare disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments, landing the case on the docket for the 2024-25 term. More than 200 hospitals are plaintiffs in the case. A federal district court ruled for HHS and against the hospitals in 2022, and…
Ken Perez: How 3 presidential candidates are defining their prescription drug pricing policies
What do voters care most about? It’s arguably the most salient question in every election cycle. Each March, to answer that question, Gallup asks Americans to rate their concern about a variety of national issues. This year’s survey asked respondents about 14 different issues.a Inflation came out on top, with 55% of those surveyed worrying…
Maryland’s example is no solution to healthcare’s true crises
In the wake of Medicare’s enactment in 1965, healthcare costs in the United States began rising at double-digit rates annually.a Many policy experts blamed hospital costs, which by 1980 had reached almost 41% of health spending.b It was believed that if you contained hospital costs, overall health spending would come under control. In 1974, the…
Optimizing 340B participation compliantly while “waiting and watching” new developments
Since 1992, the 340B program has required drug manufacturers to provide eligible healthcare organizations and other covered entities with drugs to be used for these organizations’ outpatients at significantly reduced prices, with the intent of helping safety net organizations improve their financial stability. In turn, hospitals are expected to demonstrate that the savings they receive…
Hospital payments have been substantially affected by the Change Healthcare cyberattack, report finds
Newly published data reflect the extent of the payment loss experienced by hospitals and health systems during the first month or so after the Change Healthcare cyberattack. A report (registration required) published in mid-May by Strata finds that gaps in expected revenue ranged from 16.5% to 17.9% per hospital for Q1. The insights were culled…
The power of AI in healthcare: a leader’s guide
In this new guide, explore five key areas every healthcare organization should consider when developing a generative AI strategy and assessing potential vendors’ solutions.
Andrew Donahue: An open letter to Congress on nonprofit hospital finances
There’s a lot of bad information out there on nonprofit hospital finances. Part of the problem is run-of-the-mill scapegoating — stakeholders with an agenda using our business complexity to muddy the water. Part of the problem is classic misuse of information — good people with good intentions making the wrong assumptions. And part of the…
The “dystopian” state of primary care
Dr. Vishnukamal Golla discusses the challenges facing primary care physicians and their patients. News team Nick Hut and Shawn Stack provide an update on the Change Healthcare cyberattack and other current events.