Last week the Supreme Court ruled that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is constitutional. The ruling should reduce some uncertainty among hospitals as they plan for the structural reforms in the law. But the ruling on Medicaid expansion, allowing states to opt out, may put hospitals in some states at risk for […]
The requirements for governance have become more stringent and the work of being a director has become more demanding. Clearly, boards need to be more informed about a whole variety of areas of finance, of quality, of human resources, of technology, of how they play together. Boards need a more sophisticated and diverse understanding of […]
The cost of keeping hospital and health system boards informed about the issues of the day has been increasing dramatically; yet the need to provide low-cost, quality board education is more acute than ever. Hospital and health system boards may take a lesson from the world of higher education—that is, exploiting new technology to […]
“What a time to be involved in healthcare . . . our healthcare industry is under transformation right now and being on a board is a chance to play a role, to shape it in some small but significant way. That’s a great opportunity for a volunteer.” (Barry Bader, Bader & Associates) The myriad […]
Executive compensation has made the news over the last several weeks, both in the U.S. and in the U.K. As positive economic news continues to elude the corporate and political world, the spotlight sweeps across many corporate practices—and executive compensation has received full focus. In the not-for-profit arena, scrutiny of hospital and health system executive […]
Improving quality and reducing cost, while always a staple of board and executive discussions and retreats, has catapulted to the top of the list of priorities because of components of the Accountable Care Act (ACA) and the Medicare Shared Savings Program: accountable care organizations, medical homes, bundled payments. Designing the structures and operational details […]
iProtean—Bond Financing Part 2 Balance sheet strength remains an imperative for hospitals and health systems today, but is a significant challenge as organizations transition to a new business model. A recent report from Moody’s Investors Service noted that nearly all of its rated hospitals cited the need to build balance sheet reserves as a […]
Preliminary medians data for fiscal year 2011, recently released by Moody’s Investors Service, show sluggish top line revenue growth, flat inpatient admissions, but an improved bottom line profitability due to expense reductions. Overall, the rating agency noted that the data support its negative outlook for hospitals in 2012. “ . . . we believe […]
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in June. Experts expect one of three possible outcomes: the Supreme Court will rule the entire healthcare law unconstitutional, rule the entire law constitutional, or rule that the individual mandate is unconstitutional while upholding the remaining provisions of the law. […]
The IRS will continue to monitor governance and tax-exempt organizations, and now has the data to support its work, according to a recent Practice Group update from the American Health Lawyers Association. The context for this announcement revolves around the IRS’ increased efforts nearly three years ago to monitor governance and compliance with its […]