Cost Effectiveness of Health Articles

I hope this message finds you and your family safe, healthy and having had the opportunity to enjoy the holiday season. Safe and healthy is no small hurdle to surpass as of late. Over the past few months, we have encountered tornadoes, fires, storms and a new COVID variant that is making its way through…

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.

HFMA is moving forward with a global effort focused on the concept of cost effectiveness of health (CEoH), with the goal for promoting development of a system for care that is needed, accessible and affordable. A key message of this effort is that a broader focus on improving cost effectiveness of health — not just of healthcare — should be a strategic priority for healthcare leaders.

The relentless organizational imperative under which nonprofit healthcare providers operate to optimize revenues under fee-for-service medicine has led to fragmented care delivery, unsustainable cost growth and severed connections with American consumers. Nonprofits should address five structural defects to their modus operandi that stand in the way of their delivering care empathetically and cost effectively to their patients.

Healthcare News of Note for healthcare finance professionals is a roundup of recent news articles: Health system boards are willing to change but slow at implementing DEI measures, international nurses are filling the workforce gap, and youth mental health has suffered during the pandemic.

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.

The December HFMA’s Cost Effectiveness of Health Report, sponsored by Kaufman Hall, leads off with the fourth and final report for 2021 in HFMA’s Healthcare 2030 series, focused on the long-term direction of strategic investment for hospitals and health systems. Also included are an article describing a new “employer-friendly” model of center of excellence and a commentary on how the FDA’s accelerated approval process may unintentionally be increasing the nation’s drug expense.

Healthcare provider organizations should prepare for an emerging new phase in the evolution of healthcare partnerships, characterized by an increasingly diverse array of choices among care sites and settings for consumers, health plans and employers. In responding to the opportunities presented in this new partnership phase, providers should adopt a strategy that applies important lessons learned during the pandemic.

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.

Independent community hospital face threats to their survival, and they need to take deliberate action to address those threats in order to continue to deliver essential care cost effectively to their communities. Leading community hospitals that are committed to remaining independent share the tactics they have adopted to ensure their independence is sustainable