47 hospitals have closed in 2019, MedPAC reports
Hospital closures have doubled so far in 2019, compared with 2018, according to a MedPAC analysis.
ACA tax drove 2018 healthcare spending acceleration, CMS actuaries find
National healthcare expenditures in 2018 increased slightly overall but declined as a share of the economy, according to a report from the CMS Office of the Actuary.
Cup of Joe: Paul Keckley, The Keckley Report
Paul Keckley, researcher, author and managing editor of the Keckley Report, talks with Joe Fifer about social determinants of health and better relationships between clinical and finance.
5 areas where hospitals can improve both financial performance and patient care
Data Trends: CMS data in the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review file indicates U.S. hospitals' average loss per admission increased 5% from 2016 to 2018.
New Briefs, December 2019
Recent news stories affecting healthcare finance
The price of innovation: 3 steps for managing specialty drug costs
Health plans can help control the cost of specialty drugs by communicating with providers about appropriate treatments, integrating coordination of pharmacy and medical benefits and implementing fixed-price models.
The most pressing ethical issues in healthcare
Healthcare leaders say these ethical concerns are top of mind today.
M&A trend: More acquisitions of small or ‘distressed’ hospitals
Hospital M&A deals in 2019 have included increasing shares of financially distressed and smaller hospitals.
Social determinants of health: Pushing the boundaries of healthcare
Addressing the social determinants of health is vital to improving health outcomes, but meaningful improvement requires new levels of collaboration.
Broad trends are driving the imperative for hospitals to revisit cardiac care
A number of factors have contributed to declining revenue growth for hospitals' cardiac catheterization labs in recent years.