Hospital merger and acquisition volumes increased 20% from Q2 to Q3 2013, according to a recent press release by Irving Levin Associates. The 24 deals announced in Q3 represent the highest quarterly deal volumes in the last four quarters of activity, indicating that while hospital merger and acquisition activity may have peaked at 94 deals […]
Medicare has proposed a mandatory payment model that would require acute care hospitals to participate. Hospitals would experience either pay cuts or bonuses based on their quality and cost outcomes for joint replacement patients through 90 days post-discharge. CMS said the proposed five-year Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model would generate $153 million in […]
Because of significant changes in reimbursement, consolidation continues to accelerate. Small, distressed hospitals are seeking large partners to meet the demands of the evolving hospital/system market and to fund capital needs. A June Sector-in-Depth report from Moody’s Investors Service details why the authors expect merger and acquisition activity to remain high over the next one […]
CMS plans to tweak the two-midnight short hospital stay policy, according to its proposed rule issued last week. The proposed changes include “allowing hospitals to admit—and bill under Part A—Medicare patients whose stay is expected to last less than two midnights ‘on a case-by-case basis.’” (“Two-Midnight Rule Changes Proposed,” HFMA Weekly News, July 2, 2015) […]
Analysts at Moody’s Investors Service weighed in on the larger role consumer choice will play in determining where some healthcare services are delivered. According to its new Sector In-Depth report, hospitals that provide convenient, high-quality care and customer service will “gain patient loyalty, improve market share and boost credit strength.” The report details four […]
Healthcare spending in the first quarter of 2015 experienced its fastest growth in more than five years, and hospital spending led the way, according to a new Census Bureau report. Spending in the overall healthcare sector increased 7.2 percent compared to the first quarter last year; spending on hospital care increased 9.2 percent during […]
Bad debt and charity care are decreasing for the first time in years, and the drop is significantly larger in states that expanded Medicaid, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. However, authors of the report noted that hospitals in Medicaid expansion states “are not uniformly transforming lower bad debt expense into higher […]
Not-for-profit hospitals appear to be successfully managing themselves out of the significant downturn that resulted from the Great Recession, according to the recently released Moody’s Investors Service report on 2014 preliminary medians. “Not-for-profit hospital operating margins and operating cash flow margins stabilized as revenue growth rate edged ahead of the expense growth rate, the […]
Effective collaboration between the clinical and financial leaders of healthcare organizations is increasingly necessary, according to a recently published joint report from the American Association for Physician Leadership and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Providers, insurers, regulators and the public recognize the need for greater value in health care—that is, improved quality and lower […]
Nine states received letters from CMS that explicitly link Medicaid waivers with the expansion of Medicaid eligibility as authorized by the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid waivers help safety net hospitals cover their uncompensated care costs and come up for renewal periodically. CMS said in the letters that federal funds for these waivers “would not […]