Healthcare News of Note: Drug manufacturers reap $6.7 billion in provider relief funding, leaving hospitals and health systems with no aid allotted for the delta and omicron surges
Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: $7 billion from the Provider Relief Fund was used by the Biden administration to pay drug manufacturers, HHS takes a strong stance on requiring health plan/insurance issuers to deliver parity for mental health and substance-use disorder benefits, and investors show continued interest in healthcare M&A in 2022.
Newly released financial data show pandemic-related challenges intensifying for hospitals
Issues with expenses and unstable volumes hindered hospital finances and operations as 2021 drew to a close.
Latest healthcare spending data paint a complicated picture of industry challenges and opportunities
Healthcare spending patterns during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic reflect an industry trying to get its bearings amid a public health emergency and daunting long-term trends.
A checklist for successful hospital cost reporting in the time of COVID-19
COVID-19 will have long-term impacts on the operations of hospitals, and on their costs in particular., making it imperative that hospitals be mindful of how those impacts extend to their cost report data.
Enabling change requires organizational self-awareness
A company principal and leader breaks down successful organizational change management strategy factors, such as current culture, influencer networks and effective communication and education channels.
Survey: Health systems push toward risk-based payment models, payer-provider partnerships
Check out the key takeaways from a survey conducted in Summer 2021 with healthcare executives, which focused on risk-based models, data issues, leaders’ concerns on hitting budgets and more.
Cost Effectiveness of Health Report, February 2022
The January 2022 edition of HFMA’s Cost Effectiveness of Health Report, sponsored by Kaufman Hall, explores key tactics successful independent community hospitals use to help them sustain their mission to the communities they serve. Also included is a preview of the first of a series of columns by hfm columnist David Johnson addressing the need for nonprofit health systems to address 5 structural defects that keep them from delivering truly high-quality care to patients.
Healthcare providers face a growing risk of violating debt covenants
COVID-19 has increased the financial strain on healthcare providers that puts them at risk of being noncompliant with lending covenants. They should be taking proactive steps now to avoid or mitigate the potentially severe adverse financial consequence of such an occurrence.
CMS proposes to restrict Medicare coverage of a high-profile new Alzheimer’s drug
Medicare will pay for use of a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease only for patients in approved clinical trials, CMS said in a proposed coverage determination.
HFMA’s new Premium Facilitated Learning courses combine self-directed study with facilitator feedback and time for peer problem solving
Learn more about HFMA’s Premium Facilitated Learning — a new line of courses — that combine self-directed study with expert facilitation in this Q&A with HFMA’s Sue Spear, director of Digital Learning and Todd Nelson, director of Partner Relationships.