HealthLeadersMedia.com - Finance News & Analysis

Half of Nurses Plan Career Change, Says Survey

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:11:00 GMT

AMN Healthcare's 2010 Survey of Registered Nurses found that almost half of all nurses plan to make a career change over the next three years, and that more than one-third of the respondents experience job dissatisfaction. Plus, a majority of nurses said they believe that the quality of care that nurses provide today has declined compared to when they started in nursing.

AHIP: Hospital Consolidation is Driving Health Costs

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:01:00 GMT

When the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office released a recent report sharply critical of the state's healthcare costs, one of the office's most often used words was "driver"—referring to hidden forces steering potentially out of control expenses. What's to blame? Health insurers' major lobby in Washington is pointing to hospital consolidation as an often ignored reason for the soaring price of healthcare.

Bills stalled, hospitals fear rising unpaid care

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:09:00 GMT

For the nation's hospitals, the cost of doing nothing in health reform translates into tens of billions of dollars each year in medical bills that go unpaid by patients with little or no insurance, the New York Times reports. Nationwide, the cost of unpaid care for hospitals, which includes charity care as well as money that could not be collected from patients, was around $36 billion in 2008, and is expected to get higher. The number of people without insurance in the U.S. could increase to as high as 58 million by 2014, from about 49 million now, according to an estimate by the Urban Institute.

Study: Health costs higher where hospital competition is lower

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:07:00 GMT

Spending by private insurers tends to be higher when the hospital market is less competitive, a new study finds. The study compared geographic patterns of Medicare spending, using the Dartmouth Atlas data, with spending by big employers that cover their workers. The researchers suggest that when a small market has just one or a few big hospital systems, employers spend more than they do in large cities where there's more competition, an issue that does not generally affect government health payers like Medicare.

Tennessee hospitals push for tax to offset cuts to TennCare

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:56:00 GMT

The Tennessee Hospital Association's members will push for a temporary tax on their revenues to reduce cuts to the TennCare program proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The association's board voted to approve a one-year "coverage fee" of 1%-2% that would raise money for hospital services scheduled to receive less funding from TennCare. The fee likely would go into effect July 1 and would not be passed along to patients, association officials said. The group also will lobby the state to dip further into reserves and to use any additional revenue that comes into the state to reduce TennCare cuts, The Tennessean reports.

There are Big Bucks in Better Patient Flow

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:06:00 GMT

Improving your patient flow could potentially save your facility hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Hospitals may ask TN to tax them

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:10:00 GMT

Some Tennessee hospitals are considering paying more taxes to head off steep cuts to TennCare that could take more than $1.5 billion from the state's medical system. Representatives for the hospital industry have suggested bringing back the hospital tax, which expired in 1994 when TennCare was created, to reduce or stave off cuts in state funding proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen. Those cuts would save the state $380 million, according to one analysis. But they would cost Tennessee two to three times as much in federal aid, amplifying the effect on hospitals and other healthcare providers far beyond the state's savings, The Tennessean reports.

New York governor gives St. Vincent's Hospital another loan

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:08:00 GMT

New York Gov. David A. Paterson provided the second cash infusion in a week Feb. 7 to St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan , but said concessions from unions and physicians would be needed to keep the hospital open. The governor said that after "hours of intensive discussions and calls between all parties" the state had agreed to put up $3 million and creditors another $3 million to keep the hospital going temporarily. The 160-year-old hospital is $700 million in debt and has stopped accepting new outpatients to its HIV and community health programs because it may be forced to close, the New York Times reports.

Obama's Budget Would Hurt Healthcare Charitable Giving, Says Group

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:48:00 GMT

Budget proposals from the White House to reduce tax deductions for charitable donations and freeze discretionary spending will harm fundraising for nonprofit hospitals, said the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. The move will stop wealthy donors from giving to nonprofits and dry up funds to help the poor and underinsured, according to the group.

Illinois top court strikes down medical malpractice caps

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:14:00 GMT

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state's medical malpractice law, saying it violates separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a judge's ability to reduce verdicts, the Chicago Tribune reports. The ruling, which challenged the constitutionality of damage caps for doctors and hospitals, is being watched by the healthcare industry and employers that see caps on damages as a way to tame rising healthcare costs. The ruling could also figure in the national healthcare debate, the Tribune reports.

Hospital network withdraws proposal to take over St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:12:00 GMT

A large hospital network that had offered to take over the nearly bankrupt St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan has formally withdrawn its offer, the New York Times reports. Stan Brezenoff, president of Continuum Health Partners, a consortium of five hospitals in New York City, said in a letter to Henry J. Amoroso, the president and chief executive of St. Vincent's, that he was withdrawing the offer because of what he said had been a negative reaction to it from both the State Health Department and St. Vincent's own board.

UPMC operating income, revenue rise

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:53:00 GMT

Driven by growth in insurance services, outpatient medical care, and physician services, operating income rose 13%, or $130 million, for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for the six-month period ending December 31, the hospital network announced. During the same period, operating revenue rose $216 million to $4.062 billion for a 5.6% increase, while the operating margin for UPMC improved to 3.2% from 3%.

Bankruptcy Judge OKs St. Mary's Hospital's Reorganization Plan

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:09:00 GMT

St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, NJ, says its reorganization plan was confirmed this week by a federal bankruptcy judge. St. Mary's, a 292-bed nonprofit acute care hospital that is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, is the first hospital to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey.

Public health tab to hit milestone

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:05:00 GMT

For the first time, government programs next year will account for more than half of all U.S. healthcare spending, federal actuaries predict, as the weak economy sends more people into Medicaid and slows growth of private insurance. Government health programs are a growing burden on the federal budget, which is running annual deficits of more than $1 trillion. By 2020, according to the new projections, about one in five dollars spent in the U.S. will go to healthcare, a proportion far beyond any other industrialized nation, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Healthcare's share of U.S. economy rose at record rate

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:02:00 GMT

The economic recession has forced Americans to spend 5.7% more for health services and drugs in 2009 than they spent in 2008, according to new projections in a report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. With the healthcare tab for last year coming to $2.5 trillion, healthcare spending now represents 17.3% of the nation's gross domestic product, a 1.1% bigger portion of the nation's economy than in 2008. The increase represents the biggest one-year expansion of healthcare's share of the economy since the federal government began keeping records in 1960.

No easy fix for troubled Jackson Health System

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:01:00 GMT

Healthcare leaders in Miami-Dade County, FL, agreed that the county dare not let the financially troubled Jackson Health System fail, but no one yet has a clear idea of how to keep it going, the Miami Herald reports. The comments came a day after Jackson executives released revised figures, forecasting that the public system will lose $229 million this fiscal year. It is losing $14 million a month. The system needs about 16 days of cash, or about $70 million, just to meet biweekly payroll for its 12,000 employees, the Herald reports.

TennCare cuts threaten Nashville General hospital

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:41:00 GMT

A proposed $200 million in cuts to TennCare could mean a budget gap of $10.5 million for Nashville General Hospital, which has struggled financially in recent years. The proposal also would limit coverage for TennCare recipients, forcing hospitals to pick up what the health insurance plan will not. Gov. Phil Bredesen offered up the cuts in his budget address as a way to help solve Tennessee's financial shortfall for the coming fiscal year. But supporters of the public hospital wonder whether Nashville General, and a sister safety net hospital, the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, would survive the cuts, The Tennessean reports.

St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan gets loans for a four-week reprieve

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:15:00 GMT

The financially ailing St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan in Greenwich Village got a month's reprieve when New York Gov. David A. Paterson met with hospital officials, elected officials, and others to try to keep the hospital from closing. The governor said that he expected to be able to keep the hospital afloat for the next four weeks through a combination of state loans and help from its creditors. Paterson said he was forming a task force to look at how to run the hospital more efficiently and to examine the healthcare needs of the surrounding community and how they might best be delivered, the New York Times reports.

The Christ Hospital Settles Whistleblower Suit with Feds

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:50:00 GMT

The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati has agreed to settle a federal whistleblower suit alleging that the hospital ran a kickback scheme with physicians to funnel patients to its cardiac care center. Officials with The Christ Hospital admitted no guilt in the settlement, which could cost in the range of $100 million.

Miami-based Jackson Health System is bleeding red ink

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:16:00 GMT

Executives from Miami-based Jackson Health System said the public hospital system lost four times as much as originally thought in 2009, and this year's expected loss is nearly triple earlier projections. The loss for fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, mushroomed from $46.8 million to $203.8 million. The projected loss for 2010 has ballooned from an $87 million estimate made in January 2010 to $229 million. With the system losing $14 million a month, it will have no cash in the bank to pay bills in seven months unless drastic steps are taken, the Miami Herald reports.