Hospitals weathered one of their most challenging years in 2022, with median operating margins staying in the red throughout most of the year. Those money problems proved to be a major factor shaping last year’s M&A transactions — financial pressures influenced 28% of hospital M&A deals last year, up from 15% in 2022, a new report showed.
The hospital sector's financial performance in November showed signs of continued stabilization and growth, according to Kaufman Hall’s latest monthly report. Hospitals should "take advantage of the relative stability and re-embrace strategic growth if they hope to see continued success in 2024," stated Erik Swanson, one of the report's authors.
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Hospitals that are able to transform what they are and how they operate can survive and serve the public well. They will still require investments from society in the interim, but that investment will be justified by the public good and eventually represent a windfall to taxpayers.
Hospital M&A activity has been returning to pre-pandemic levels this year, according to a new report. There were 18 M&A transactions in Q3, compared to seven in Q3 2021 and 10 in Q3 of last year. The reason why M&A activity is regaining its momentum is because hospitals are seeking partnerships to grow and protect their long-term financial sustainability — the report found financial distress was the driving factor behind nearly 40% of deals announced during Q3.
Hospitals’ operating margins are still in a worse place than they were before the pandemic, but 2023 is ending as a much more stable year for hospital finance than 2022, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall. Because this year hasn't had any large Covid-19 surges, hospitals have seen less variability in patient volumes. This has helped them allocate their resources more efficiently and decrease their reliance on expensive contract labor.
For the September episode, we discuss some recent executive appointments occurring in the healthcare sector, as well as layoffs affecting the industry. We also hear from Chris Allen, who recently became CFO at Keck Medicine of USC.
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
During past recessions, the healthcare sector remained relatively immune to economic downswings — but things are different now that a sweeping labor shortage and lower patient volumes have been added to the mix.
Hospitals’ pharmacy spending is projected to rise by 3.42% next year, according to a new report. Specialty drugs, including Ozempic and Humira, as well as neurology medications are the primary drivers of this increase in pharmacy expenses.
More than 600 rural U.S. hospitals — which is more than 30% of the country’s rural hospitals — are at risk of closing due to their financial instability, according to a new report. The report argued that the dire financial situation among the nation’s rural hospitals stems from two main issues: low financial reserves and inadequate payments from private health plans.
The nation’s two largest for-profit hospital chains — HCA and Tenet — increased their EBITDA as salary and benefit obligations became less burdensome in Q1. Unsurprisingly, the story for nonprofit hospitals is a bit different. For this class of health systems, the stress associated with labor costs is subsiding, but operating margins are having a difficult time bouncing back, according to a new Moody's report.
We will highlight Build My Health's revenue practice management tools, which could help physician practices add up to $250,000 to their practices.
Compared to government payers, commercial payers take significantly longer to pay hospitals and deny claims at a higher frequency — often without a justifiable reason to do so — according to a new report. Commerical payers have better reimbursement rates than government payers, but providers often have to wait 90 days or more get claims paid by commercial plans.
California lawmakers recently passed a bill that would provide interest-free cash loans to nonprofit and public hospitals undergoing significant financial distress. The loan program would provide up to $150 million in funds over the next couple years.
Kaiser Permanente announced that it expects to acquire Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health. Kaiser’s move is part of a larger plan — Geisinger will be the first health system to join Risant Health, a new company Kaiser launched to operate nonprofit health systems under value-based care models. Kaiser said it expects to invest $5 billion in Risant and fold five or six health systems into the company over the next five years.
A shift from fee-for-service payment models to value-based models is not an effective way to address the severe financial pressures that safety net hospitals are facing, experts argued at the HIMSS conference in Chicago. One called for a paradigmatic shift “away from cost savings and toward understanding where investments are needed.”
ShiftMed, an online marketplace for W-2 healthcare workers, recently raised $200 million in funding. The company's platform allows providers to post their open shifts in hopes they will be filled by local nurses.