Healthcare CFOs Sing Reform Blues

Healthcare CFOs Sing Reform Blues

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is designed, in part, to provide more patients with health insurance through expanded Medicaid eligibility and the introduction of government-run health insurance exchanges that will allow low-income individuals to purchase medical coverage at a subsidized rate.

The goals include improving access to care for this segment of the population and reducing the amount of uncompensated care provided by the nation's hospitals. While this sounds good on paper, many hospital finance administrators are not convinced that the PPACA will benefit providers and are instead bracing to take a hit to the revenue cycle.

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/FIN-294282/Healthcare-CFOs-Sing-Reform-Blues?goback=%2Egde_132131_member_259115839

Ready for a Crisis, and Ready to Flex

Ready for a Crisis, and Ready to Flex

Do hospitals that treat more low-income, ethnically diverse patients with multiple comorbidities have a tougher time getting good patient experience scores than other hospitals, as some organizations contend?

And if so, should those hospitals merit an adjustment for socioeconomic status or payer mix, especially when millions in value-based purchasing incentive pay is now at stake?

Safety-net advocacy groups say the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys should be adjusted for race, ethnicity, income, and health literacy as well as insurance status because HCAHPS misses a measure of hospital cultural competence.

But to date, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has disagreed, arguing that existing adjustments—such as for age, education, and the patient's primary language—are adequate.