Even though Obamacare likely will expand health insurance coverage to an extra 500,000 Hoosiers over the next few years, IU Health expects per-patient reimbursements to fall as the federal government, employers and patients all push back on sky-high health care costs.
Brian and Emily Kahn had virtually identical physical therapy. He paid much more than she did. Why? Because of where the therapy took place.
One explanation for Indiana University Health’s decision to delay its Methodist Hospital expansion is that new “value-based” payment models appear to be pushing down hospitalization rates, according to a study released Friday.
Citing concerns about the economy and federal health reform, Indiana University Health has pressed pause on its plans to build a bed tower at Methodist Hospital that could have cost it as much as $500 million.
While rural hospitals face sharp reductions in their operating incomes, most of the four major hospital systems based in Indianapolis will see only a marginal impact on their finances.
The sequestration plan kicking in Friday will chop Medicare payments to hospitals, doctors and nursing homes by 2 percent, beginning April 1. One study estimates that the cuts could result in 10,000-plus job losses in Indiana alone.
The five-year trend of physician practices marrying up with hospitals has made it harder and harder for independent physician practices to spend time in more than one hospital system.
The new partnership between Community Health Network and Wishard Health Services could put a third health care entity in an awkward position: the Indiana University School of Medicine. Virtually all of the nearly 1,100 physicians who practice at Wishard Memorial Hospital and its community clinics come from the IU medical school.
The partnership will create a new board to oversee and coordinate the operations of both systems, according to internal messages sent to Community stakeholders. Community Health CEO Bryan Mills will be the CEO of the new joint-operating entity.
The health care systems would not provide details, but said the announcement would place "Indianapolis in the best position for health care reform."
A federal audit released Friday recommends Indiana's human services agency refund more than $5.8 million in Medicaid funds because Logansport State Hospital did not show it had complied with special conditions for psychiatric hospitals.
Don Kelso is executive director of the Indiana Rural Health Association. The trade group is trying to help its members navigate the changes coming from health care reform and the financial pressures being created by federal budget cuts. The association recently launched a service for its members called SuiteStats, which is data-management software to help hospital executives identify areas ripe for cost-cutting.
Across the four largest hospital systems in central Indiana, six physicians received more than $1 million in compensation in 2011 while two others received more than $900,000 and nine others received $700,000 or more, according to the hospitals’ most recent reports to the IRS.
In the era of health care reform, hospitals will face two new challenges: They will need to run higher-volume, lower-margin businesses, and they’ll be on the hook financially for what patients do even when they’re not receiving health care. Community Health Network’s new partnership with Walgreens’ Take Care Clinics is designed to help address both issues.
Hospitals across Indiana announced restrictions on visitors Wednesday in hopes of preventing the spread of flu, which has claimed the lives of 27 people in the state this season.
Franciscan St. Francis Health and American Health Network continue to get deeper into the accountable care organization concept being promoted by the federal Medicare program under the 2010 health reform law.
Indiana University Health got national attention last week for its decision to dismiss eight employees for refusing to get a flu vaccination. The Indianapolis-based hospital system fired three nurses and five other employees from its IU Health Goshen Hospital.
The $2.5 million expansion will add 7,000 square feet of meeting and office space to Fairbanks’ 86-bed hospital for patients trying to recover from drug and alcohol addictions.
IU Health and Community enjoyed net gains of $267 million and $23 million, respectively, from the hospital assessment fee program during the fiscal year ended June 30.
Health officials developing a statewide trauma system say Indiana needs more trauma centers.
