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…
HFMA, Selat/Nawa and KSA Ministry of Health collaborate on one-day educational event in Riyadh
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) is offering a new international educational opportunity with a one-day healthcare finance event, at the Global Health Exhibition in Riyadh on Oct. 31. Selat, a Riyadh-based revenue cycle management consulting firm and its training arm Nawa, is the exclusive sponsor of the event and will also provide instruction during…
Congress puts the community benefit standard for nonprofit hospitals under the microscope
The criteria that establish hospitals’ tax-exempt status are coming under closer scrutiny, with a bipartisan quartet of senators asking the IRS to ramp up its oversight of compliance with the community benefit standard. Sens. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent an Aug. 7 letter to the…
Fighting for systemic change by putting the patient first
Rami Karjian and Raphael Rakowski of Medically Home discuss emphasizing patients over all else in healthcare, and Julie Lambert and Lori Zindl from Inovalon talk about an RCM survey.
How to staff smarter and reduce reliance on expensive travel contracts
To bridge the healthcare staffing gap and tackle workforce issues such as burnout, spikes in labor costs, and rising retirements among nurses, hospitals and healthcare facilities need a technology-driven approach that empowers staffing managers with the control needed to address fluctuating patient volume without understaffing or overspending on labor. This How-To guide highlights the challenges,…
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…
Service-line strategies require reevaluating in light of operational realities
The many operational and financial headwinds that are buffeting health systems should prompt leadership teams to revisit the strategic direction, goals and performance of their service lines and clinical programs. Health systems are facing significant — and likely permanent — structural shifts in operating costs, staffing and options for where many procedures can be delivered.…
4 points healthcare leaders should consider in their cyberinsurance calculus
In spring of 2023, two ransomware groups, Cl0p (or CLOP, per the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency) and LockBit, attacked 130 organizations in the United States, many of them in healthcare.a Fortunately for healthcare organizations with cybersecurity insurance, those breaches would have been eligible for coverage. Yet the same may not have been true for…
In proposed regulations, CMS seeks to strengthen hospital price transparency requirements
Hospital price transparency regulations are undergoing changes heading into their fourth year as CMS seeks to step up enforcement while making compliance more straightforward. As part of the 2024 proposed rule for hospital outpatient payments, CMS is adding to the requirement for hospitals to maintain a machine-readable file of their charges for services. In addition,…
Some of the best from HFMA’s Annual Conference in Nashville
Revisiting your investment strategy with Lisa Schneider of Russell Investments and PayMedix CEO Tom Policelli discusses why payment is so confusing for patients.