Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
The following is a summary of the major provisions in the recently passed health care reform bill. Please note: I have not attempted to cover every nuance in detail but to provide a highlight for a point of reference. If any reader has additional questions or wants additional insight on any particular provision, please let … Read more
Over the next few days I’ll be pushing out a series of posts as my schedule permits, on the implications of health care reform for various industry segments. These are not meant as in-depth analyses, more of a “summary” of the key points. Reconciliation Act: This Bill has yet to pass the Senate and as a … Read more
It has been a world-wind few days (make that a week) analyzing all that is or was, health care reform. In some respects, I’m glad that the meat of health care reform is done for now though admittedly, I’m disappointed at the outcome. Suffice to say, I will catch-up on the ramifications of the legislation … Read more
Lately I’ve been running across intermittent publications/blog posts, etc. regarding a general decline in hospice census. At the end of this post, I’ve attached a couple of links for anyone who wishes to see some examples of what I’ve been reading. Naturally, being the curious consultant and health policy junkie that I am, I started … Read more
Within the past ten or so days, I took some time to review the financial and operating benchmarks for CCRCs. The past eighteen months have likely been the toughest operational and financial period ever for CCRCs. By the end of 2009, a small rebound in the economy via an increase in existing home sales, a … Read more
Moody’s Investor Service released their annual sector outlook today for not-for-profit health care organizations, stating that they (Moody’s) continue to maintain a “negative” outlook on the industry. Important to note in this report is that the focus is principally on hospitals and since the report is produced by Moody’s, its primary perspective is on credit … Read more
As 2010 comes in and looking back on 2009, the Assisted Living market has been on a bit of a roller-coaster. Without question, the downturn in the economy caused some provider pain most notably among some of the larger, heavily leveraged companies (e.g. Sunrise and Sunwest). Occupancy rates were soft in many parts of the country, … Read more
Earlier today, CMS released its annual report on national health spending for the year 2008. In summary, health spending grew at a rate of 4.4% (over 2007), equating to a per capita cost of $7,681 and a total cost of $2.3 trillion. This rate of growth, per CMS, is the slowest increase since 1960 although … Read more
Within the past two weeks, CMS released data from 1998 to 2008 for length of stay and diagnosis trends. What is interesting to note is the utilization trends (length of stay and numbers) over the period as well as the diagnosis correlated to utilization. For CMS and in particular MedPAC, the prevailing concern has been … Read more
If you are a baseball fan, you’ll appreciate the correlation between a baseball game and the present course of healthcare reform. A baseball game starts with anticipation and fanfare; speeches, the throwing out of the first pitch, the national anthem and the players taking the field. The fans settle in and the game begins with cheers … Read more