Baptist Health of Little Rock reported an operating loss of $20.9 million for 2018, marking the third straight year of operating losses for the state’s largest hospital system. But 2018 was an improvement from 2017, when Baptist reported an operating loss of $30 million.
Growth of nearly 4% growth in healthcare advertising has been forecast over the coming year. The latest Zenith Advertising Expenditure Forecast focussed specifically on the healthcare sector has predicted slow but steady growth of 3.6% overall for both 2019 and 2020 amid a pincer movement of increased costs and decreasing prices.
CVS has had to weather some rocky stock moves since closing on its merger with health insurer Aetna Inc., but things could be looking up soon. Shares of the drugstore chain have fallen 15% so far this year amid narrowing pharmacy margins; investor concern over the future of health policy; increased scrutiny into the pharmacy-benefit manager model (CVS owns its own PBM, CVS Caremark); and investor skepticism over the company’s $70-million Aetna acquisition.
Through the first six months of the year, Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s financial position is dramatically improved from a year ago, but the operation is still running in the red. Through June, the hospital had a net operating income of minus $99,737. That compares to minus $4.9 million at the end of June last year.
The Trump administration is pushing ahead with a new rule that could require hospitals to reveal the prices they negotiated with insurance companies. The White House says the move could help bring the free market into the murky world of health care.
Fountain Valley resident Jennifer Moore makes a really good point. “When you take your car to the mechanic, they give you a written estimate before they touch it,” she told me. “So why is it that when you go to the hospital, you have no idea how much something will cost until the bill arrives?”