Top 10 Healthcare Finance News stories of 2018
Amazon leads, mergers continue, workforce lags, interoperability moves forward.
Editor's Note: This was another busy year for hospital business decision makers, with Amazon making bold moves and even some that did not get as much attention as its arrangement with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. Salaries are on the rise, as is ROI on social determinants investments (for at least one hospital) while CMS made policy changes designed to ease the administrative burden and called for an end to fax machines by 2020. As the New Year approaches, here's a look back at 2018's most important stories as chosen based on both reader interest and our editors' picks.
-- Tom Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com.
1. Amazon made another bold move into healthcare that went relatively unnoticed
Online retail giant's reach into the Medicaid market to take on Walmart among lower income customers could bring disruption soon.
Amazon is like that runner who is so far ahead you feel grateful just to compete for second place. It may not always be this way, but currently, Amazon is eating up the track through its personalized and fast delivery system. It's even taken on Walmart. No sitting out this race. Disruption is just another word for competition to the C-suite.
2. Salaries of hospital executives nearly doubled, while physicians see more modest increases
Between 2005 and 2015, average CEO compensation jumped from $1.6 million to $3.1 million, an increase of 93 percent.
Numerous studies tell us physicians are burned out from all of the administrative work and clicks on a keyboard they're asked to do, especially when it comes to EHRs. Amazon, ect. CEO Atul Gawande weighed in on the frustration in an article for The New Yorker. Now a study shows that salary raises that don't come close to that of the C-Suite during a time of physician shortages. It's an ongoing dilemma.
For 2018, CMS updated its measures in adjusting three Part C measures for Medicare Advantage only and MA-prescription drug plans.
Star ratings are important for bonuses, to gain customer share and, in the broader picture, to show value-based care is more than a myth. As a greater percentage of seniors sign up for Medicare Advantage plans, as more insurers offer plans, and as the government touts MA, its future seems clear.
4. List: Healthgrades reveals America's Best Hospitals for 2018
Those on the 50 Best Hospitals list have received their Clinical Excellence award for at least seven consecutive years, Healthgrades said.
Who doesn't want to be recognized for being the best. These hospitals are better than their peers in treating a core group of conditions that cause more than 80 percent of mortalities, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.
5. Camp Fire in Northern California damages Adventist Health Feather River Hospital, patients evacuated
A trio of wildfires devoured tens of thousands of acres in California, causing devastation and fatalities.
An emergency situation, in which the power is cut, the water is rising, a hurricane or tornado has done its worst, and in this case, when a massive fire forces evacuation, shows just what hospitals and staff are capable of doing.
6. CMS removes Medicare requirements identified as unnecessary, obsolete or excessively burdensome
Proposed rule on removing such mandates as "re-approval" is expected to save healthcare facilities $1.12 billion per year.
CMS reducing regulatory burden is always a welcome relief. Many of proposals simplify Medicare's conditions of participation, conditions for coverage and other participation requirements.
The New York City health system created a program focusing on housing homeless patients that has already reaped big rewards.
One of the biggest trends this year and moving forward is the tackling of social determinants of health. Without looking at factors such as social isolation, food insecurity and homelessness, treating the underlying illness will only result in a patient returning to the emergency room. Hospitals such as Montefiore find the investment in whole person care returns dividends in outcomes and cost.
8. CMS Administrator Seema Verma calls for an end to physician fax machines by 2020
CMS is also seeking Blue Button 2.0 app developers, Verma says at second interoperability forum hosted by the ONC.
Seema Verma is calling for the free flow of digital health information and genuine interoperability, not at some futuristic date, but by 2020. This must happen, she said, to get healthcare out of its 1990s time warp.
9. Nurse practitioners can help ease the physician shortage, right? Not so fast
With both doctors and nurses in high-demand, more education and diversity is needed. Here are some steps hospitals can take now.
To help address primary care shortages, nurse practitioner education programs are being designed for nurses with associate degrees to step in. Nurses are also in high demand.
10. Ascension, Providence St. Joseph Health halt merger talks
Two systems cited focuses on other areas of operations that muddied the waters for the merger, making it a no-go.
Mergers, consolidations and partnerships dominated coverage for 2018 and are expected to continue into 2019 as systems look at ways to grow and reduce inefficiencies to remain competitive.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
