; Dartmouth project gains traction
; Tenet fights hostile takeover
; Study: Before suing, mediate
COMMENTARY
8
; Who knows what 2011 holds?
; Get ready for ICD- 10
Community Health
seeks control of Tenet
Healthcare giants square off
following hostile takeover bid
INDUSTRY NEWS 3
Finding the language
for the bottom line
Digital technology is helping providers
reduce paper – and cut costs.
SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 25
HOSPITALS & IDNs
11
; Holy Cross wins Md. hospital bid
; Wellmont exec talks about capital
; HAI effort saves millions in Ohio
COMMUNITY CARE
16
; Experts see growth ahead
; Texas debates medical liability
; Senior housing set to surge
PAYERS
21
; Calif. Blue seeks premium hike
; WellNet to help small businesses
; Harvard Pilgrim, Tufts eye merger
SOLUTIONS & SERVICES 25
; Kronos acquires API Healthcare
; MedAssets gives docs a voice
; HR solutions get an upgrade
Bad patient debt continues to mount
TRENDS
27
; ICD-10: Be prepared, or pay
PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY 28
; Managing the supply chain
JOB SPOT
29
; Salaries may rise in 2011
www.HealthcareFinanceNews.com
Med Tech Media/ Vol. 6 No. 1
By John Andrews, Contributing Editor
BAD DEBT IS FINANCIAL poison – there’s no mi st a kin g t ha t its proliferation in the real estate market brought
about the economic collapse in 2008.
The high unemployment rate,
foreclosures, individual bankruptcies
and escalating costs of health
insurance that came in the wake
of the recession are now causing
all kinds of grief for healthcare
providers trying to collect revenues
owed to them.
“It’s obviously a big problem and
it is getting worse,” said Andrew
Grobmyer, managing director for
the Huron Consulting Group in
During last year’s debate on healthcare reform, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D – Calif.) held a discussion in the Capitol on the mounting debt of Americans who
already have health insurance.
Lake Oswego, Ore. “It is creating
an additional strain within the
provider community, more so than
in the past.”
A national unemployment rate
hovering near 10 percent (and
several states where it is even
higher) has left many without
health insurance of any kind, and
those fortunate enough to keep their
jobs are being hit with much higher
premiums and deductibles from
their employer-based benefit plans.
“It’s a combination of people with
no coverage that don’t qualify for
public assistance like Medicaid and
those left with a high balance after
insurance liability,” Grobmyer said.
DEBT SEE PAGE 14
State budgets face weight
of Medicaid expenditures
Governors criticize ‘one-size
fits-all’ approach to Medicaid
By Chris Anderson, Senior Editor
THE REPUBLICAN EUPHORIA that followed Last November’s mid-term elections has all but disappeared, as
lawmakers in state capitals throughout the
nation now face the stark realities of balancing
budgets decimated by the recession.
Medicaid in Crisis
State General Fund expenditures, FY2009
Top Five States
California
Ohio
Massachusetts
New York
Pennsylvania
Medicaid Spending
(In millions)
$11,707
$10,237
$8,697
$7,689
$6,312
Total of
Expenditures
13%
38%
29%
14%
23%
SOURCE: 2009 State Expenditure Report, National Association of State Budget Officers, 2010.
Experts battle
over politics of
healthcare reform
House GOP repeal is DOA
By Diana Manos, Senior Editor
WASHINGTON – The new House Republican majority
made good on their mid-term election promise to
repeal the Affordable Care Act, but most experts
are predicting the action to be nothing more than
political posturing.
Attendees of the National
Congress on Health Insurance
Reform in Washington, D.C.,
on Jan. 19-21 said they doubt
the Republicans will be able
to eliminate the ACA, despite a
House vote to approve a repeal
on Jan. 19.
Some said the repeal would do more damage than
good for the American healthcare consumer.
Henry Aaron, senior fellow in economic studies
at the Brookings Institution and chairman of the
National Academy of Social Insurance, conceded
the ACA is not perfect. “But it’s a beginning,” he
REFORM SEE PAGE 22
