News Briefs: White House healthcare plan would have major implications for the industry
President Donald Trump announced a healthcare framework aimed at boosting transparency, consumer choice and affordability, although numerous details still need to be decided before Congress can act on the proposals. The plan’s Jan. 15 release came as Senate talks to renew the expired ACA subsidies stalled amid disputes over abortion coverage and concerns about cost.…
HFMA launches new Executive Councils for patient access and pharmacy revenue cycle leaders
When you organize a meetup for patient access professionals at HFMA’s annual conference and you find it is standing room only, you know you have discovered a member need. That’s what happened when nearly 30 patient access attendees showed up for an informal meet-up hosted by HFMA’s Executive Councils team. The team then invited those…
South Dakota Chapter hosts blood drive as part of mission goals
The HFMA South Dakota Chapter hosted its first blood drive and helped collect 22 pints of blood, supporting 66 lives, when it partnered with the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations’ (SDAHO) education and networking event along with LifeServe at the Sioux Falls convention center in September. Setting a mission goal into motion The idea…
James Mathews: U.S. nursing homes face stormy waters amid staffing challenges and an aging population
Readers of a certain age may recall Sebastian Junger’s book A Perfect Storm, which describes the last voyage of the Andrea Gail, a Massachusetts swordfishing boat. In October 1991, the boat encountered a violent storm in the North Atlantic Ocean and was lost with all hands. The storm was borne of three converging meteorological conditions: the remains of Hurricane Grace,…
Kiran Batheja: Our moon-shot opportunity
When President John F. Kennedy made a once-in-a-generation commitment to put an American on the moon, his words were simple and unmistakable. The moon shot, he said, was a challenge that “we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.” America would choose its destiny rather than…
Jill Geisler: What kind of micromanager are you?
Don’t take offense at this column’s headline. Yes, it assumes you are a micromanager. But even though micromanaging has a negative reputation, it isn’t always a sign of poor leadership. Sometimes it’s exactly what you should do. Before we dig into the when, why and how of micromanagement, let me share my description: Micromanagers are supervisors who exercise a high degree of scrutiny…
Nathan Kaufman: Hospital-based anesthesia and radiology operate in a broken financial model
The good ol’ days of hospital-based physicians providing services at no cost in exchange for exclusivity are over, creating significant disruptions. Health systems are facing a growing shortage of anesthesiologists and radiologists, a shortfall that is driven by a broken business model for those types of services. Underpayment for anesthesia and radiology care by Medicare and Medicaid combined with a lack of experience in related revenue cycle management and high…
Susan Dentzer: Extending the ACA’s enhance premium tax credits — It’s the right thing to do
Winston Churchill is often credited with the assertion that Americans always do the right thing after exhausting all the other alternatives. Whether or not he actually said it, current U.S. healthcare policy underscores the underlying truth. The latest evidence is Congress’s inability to broker an extension of the enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs) established under the ACA,…
Networking ‘with a little help from my friends’
On Sunday mornings, I listen to my local rock radio station’s “Breakfast with the Beatles” show (yes, that dates me). Thanks to the internet, my Gen Z daughter — a college student in Boston — can also stream it. Despite our wildly different musical tastes, our shared love of the Beatles is a special way…
What healthcare investors value most today
The healthcare municipal market continues to navigate a mix of structural headwinds, evolving risk appetites and a shifting credit landscape. An investor conversation at the Kaufman Hall Healthcare Leadership Conference in October offers insights as to where investors are focused today and what borrowers can do to meet the market on favorable terms. Three themes…