Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mergers And Acquisitions Have Been Flourishing Across Health Landscape. But What If There's No One For Hospitals To Make A Deal With?
For most hospital systems, growth comes through mergers or an acquisition. But when there isn’t another system to acquire, one answer is to multiply. Hospital for Special Surgery, the oldest orthopedic hospital in the U.S., is multiplying rapidly. In the coming year, it will open two locations on Manhattan’s West Side, including a sports-medicine focused office in Hudson Yards and a larger outpatient facility in the Columbus Circle area. In addition, outposts and collaborations are in development for locations in Midtown Manhattan, the New York City borough of Brooklyn, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Aspen, Colo. (West, 1/3)
Hospitals in Michigan and across the country rang in the New Year with a federal mandate to reveal their once-secret master price lists, although it's unclear whether this new requirement will assist many patients or contain ever-rising health care costs. Starting Jan. 1, hospitals must publish online the starting price tags for every service or procedure. These detailed lists, known as chargemasters, include thousands of entries, from $791,790 for a heart transplant at Henry Ford Hospital to $2 for a syphilis test at Detroit Receiving Hospital. (Reindl, 1/3)
Kaiser Health News: As Hospitals Post Sticker Prices Online, Most Patients Will Remain Befuddled
As of Jan. 1, in the name of transparency, the Trump administration required that all hospitals post their list prices online. But what is popping up on medical center websites is a dog’s breakfast of medical codes, abbreviations and dollar signs — in little discernible order — that may initially serve to confuse more than illuminate. Anyone who has ever tried to find out in advance how much a hospital test, procedure or stay will cost knows the frustration: “Nope, can’t tell you” or “It depends” are common replies from insurers and medical centers. (Appleby, 1/4)
The Trump administration last fall proposed allowing employers to use HRAs to help their workers purchase individual market coverage. The health groups said the new policy should only help people buy Obamacare plans and not skimpier coverage options, including some the Trump administration has promoted like short-term plans. (Demko, 1/3)
The gap between U.S. hospitals' outpatient and inpatient revenue continued to shrink in 2017 as more patients elect to get care in cheaper outpatient settings, and some believe a flip is inevitable in the coming years. The American Hospital Association's 2019 Hospital Statistics report showed hospitals' net outpatient revenue was $472 billion and inpatient revenue totaled nearly $498 billion in 2017, the latest year for which the report covers, creating a ratio of 95%, up from 83% in 2013. (Bannow, 1/3)
