The Community Health Systems (CHS) is one of the largest healthcare group in the United States with over 135 hospitals in 29 states and in England [1], with approximately 20,000 beds [2]. CHS serves more than 55% of the market with most affiliated hospitals being the only healthcare provider. While closing the accounts on 31st December 2012, the company had under its belt 162 hospitals out of which there were 156 general, acute care hospitals, 5 psychiatric hospitals and one rehabilitation center with 41,198 beds. CHS also operates 112 surgical centers Most of the centers provides high end services with well trained medical staff [3]. Community Health Systems started in 1985 and in the short period of 35 years has grown to become one of the largest healthcare group in the States. The company went public in June 2000 at $13 a share. The companies biggest growth phase occurred in 2007 …show more content…
CHS needs to identify the reasons for its high expenses and try decreasing costs, to catch up with its other industry rivals considerably improving in 2012. This is the most concerning of all ratios as the revenues earned by HCA is only twice the amount of CHS, but the profit margins of HCA amounts to seven times the value due to the lesser profit margins. However, profit margins have increased from 2011, after the federal inquiry which caused it to drop after 2010. The return on equity ratio of CHS is 9.50% which is higher than the industry average of 8.74%. This is a good value but the industry average is less due to the negative ROE of HCA holdings. If this is not considered the industry average would be 11.28%, which results in a lesser return on equity ratio. The earnings per share value of the company is 0.78 in 2012 and has increased from .63 in 2011. Long Term Solvency
...t them attain the services easily and at lower costs. In addition, these hospitals have the potential of managing effectively their cash flow. A fixed and proper payment system to the workers of the small health centers can m motivates them to avail quality services to the medical beneficiaries. Small hospitals can be able to have bonus payment in case they provide care in areas short of professional health. Hence, small hospital can implicate appropriately their method of payment. Conversely, there might be a risk possibility when it comes to accessing low amount due to the nature of the illness of the patients, the involvement of high cost of treatment amongst many other factors. In the vent that the overall health care costs are more than earlier anticipated, the hospital and the doctor shall receive less profits. This can have a negative impact on the hospital.
The expense per discharge and the expense per adjusted discharge are both higher than average. The positive trend in outpatient profitability has been in an increase in profit per visit and net revenue per visit. Outpatients profit has influenced the hospitals in expanding their outpatients and shrinking its inpatient services. Inpatient charges increased the net revenue per discharge shown in the quartile information. The Riverview Community Hospital is known to provide high-quality services to its patients. It provides an adequate amount of revenue to cover its expenses. Moreover, it allows provides charity care without affecting its stability. Also, the Riverview community hospital has joint reimbursement from the government. The length of hospital stays has been below average with allowing doctors and nurses with effective resources. The average length is below average it is quite beneficial to both patients and the hospital because it is less costly, and opens up resources for other nurses and doctors not only does it help out the workers, but allows the patient to be taken care of with accessible facilities. Therefore, it
According to Harry A. Sultz and Kristina M. Young, the authors of our textbook Health Care USA, medical care in the United States is a $2.5 Trillion industry (xvii). This industry is so large that “the U.S. health care system is the world’s eighth
This group is more focused on satisfaction, access and quality of care. Providers, or practitioners, are also key stakeholders within an organization. The term provider can encompasses not only physicians and surgeons, but also nurses, physical and occupational therapists, technicians, and other members of a clinical staff. Providers fall into two categories, primary, which includes hospitals and health departments and secondary, which includes educational institutions and pharmaceutical companies. Providers are focused on the best treatments for patients and are involved in delivering health services and products. The final element of the MCQ model is the employer who by far is the largest paying and purchasing stakeholder of an organization. The employers focus is primarily on their return on investment within an organization. Cost and quality is a focus for employers when choosing health benefits but are mindful that access is just as important. Within the Patient Healthcare model, MCQ explains the interactions between the four elements of employer, patient, provider and payer while the Iron Triangle focuses on the factors of cost, quality, and access. The Patient Healthcare model charges healthcare leaders with the task of balancing satisfaction with the stakeholder (employer, patient, provider, and payer) in relation to cost, quality and access. This may be very difficult since stakeholders may have competing priorities. Changes and variations made in how healthcare organizations operate may have profound effects on how stakeholders perceive the quality, access and cost. For instance, a patient may consider cost to be a top priority when seeking healthcare and at the same time the healthcare organization may consider raising costs and therefore devaluing access and quality. Patients who begin to incur high out-of-pocket costs may begin to perceive a financial
The purpose of financial measurement in healthcare is to provide the community with the services it needs, at a clinically acceptable level of quality, at a publicly responsive level of amenity, at the least possible cost. This is done by providing healthcare finance managers with accounting and finance information to help accomplish the purpose of the organization (Nowicki, 2015). When making accounting decisions about budgeting and inventory control, an understanding of economics, statistics, and operations research is needed. Major Financial Measures
LifePoint Hospitals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates general acute care hospitals in non-urban communities in the United States. The company’s hospitals provide a range of medical and surgical services comprising general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, emergency room care, radiology, oncology, diagnostic care, coronary care, rehabilitation services, and pediatric services, as well as specialized services, such as open-heart surgery, skilled nursing, psychiatric care, and neurosurgery. Its hospitals also offer outpatient services, including same-day surgery, laboratory, x-ray, respiratory therapy, imaging, sports medicine, and lithotripsy. The company also owns and operates a school of health professions with a nursing program and a radiologic technology program. As of December 31, 2010, it operated 52 hospital campuses with a total of approximately 5,915 licensed beds in 17 states. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. Lifepoint Hospitals Inc. (NasdaqNM:LPNT) operates independently of HCA Inc. as of May 11, 1999.
According to National HealthCare Corporation (2016), the organization also generates revenue by managing seven skilled nursing facilities, three assisted living facilities, and one independent living facility owned by third-party operators. Additionally, they have a partnership agreement and a 75.1% non-controlling ownership in Caris Healthcare. Caris Healthcare specializes in hospice care and has 26 locations in four states. Further, NCH provides accounting and financial services to 20 skilled nursing facilities for small operators. Lastly, the organization operates four regional pharmacy operations. These pharmacies serve 56 owned facilities, six managed facilities, and 13 third party entities.
A recent phenomenon in the health services is the burgeoning of outpatient healthcare centers. Particularly vigorous growth has been observed in centers that perform diagnostic tests and simple surgeries and procedures like colonoscopies. At the current state, outpatient care centers outnumber hospitals in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, these centers now perform one of every four surgical and diagnostic procedures in the state (Levy 2006). However, the trend applies nationwide, and other states could easily follow suit. Many critics have commented on the negative and positive aspects of this trend. What remains to be determined are the long term effects (on health and the economy) of this paradigm shift, in terms of the wellness of the community as well as economically. Proponents of the movement have pointed to the lower overhead for these clinics trickling down to lower costs for patients. However, critics skeptically question whether the real benefits are for the patients or simply as a mechanism to stuff physicians' wallets. When considered as firms in the marketplace, it is evident that these two groups, both servicing the health needs of the community, have vastly different balance sheets and income statements. This transfers over to a difference in operational functionality, profitability, and cost structure. Furthermore, the disparity of financial motivations that is visible in the varying profit margins is of concern to the community. All of these are important considerations to be made when considering the economic implications of this new phenomenon.
Pay-for-performance (P4P) is the compensation representation that compensates healthcare contributors for accomplishing pre-authorized objectives for the delivery of quality health care assistance by economic incentives. P4P is increasingly put into practice in the healthcare structure to support quality enhancements in healthcare systems. Thus, pay-for-performance can be seen as a means of attaching financial incentives to the main objectives of clinical care. However, reimbursement is a managed care payment by a third party to a beneficiary, hospital or other health care providers for services rendered to an insured or beneficiary. This paper discusses how reimbursement can be affected by the pay-for-performance approach and how system cost reductions impact the quality and efficiency of healthcare. In addition, it also addresses how pay-for-performance affects different healthcare providers and their customers. Finally, there will also be a discussion on the effects pay-for-performance will have on the future of healthcare.
Over the last 5 years the healthcare system has begun to transform. This transformation includes a focus change to preventative care to the new health conscious consumers and the reduction of healthcare costs (PR Newswire, 2013). This change comes from the consumers of healthcare as well as new laws such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This has created a need for hospitals to enter in partnerships to create hospital systems such as Centura Health. These hospital systems are expanding the continuum of care to include everything from preventative care, emergency care, and finally end-of-life care. This creates a need to monitor competition and create ideation plans to increase likelihood the consumer will use Centura Health over the competitors.
When one examines managed health care and the hospitals that provide the care, a degree of variation is found in the treatment and care of their patients. This variation can be between hospitals or even between physicians within a health care network. For managed care companies the variation may be beneficial. This may provide them with opportunities to save money when it comes to paying for their policy holder’s care, however this large variation may also be detrimental to the insurance company. This would fall into the category of management of utilization, if hospitals and managed care organizations can control treatment utilization, they can control premium costs for both themselves and their customers (Rodwin 1996). If health care organizations can implement prevention as a way to warrant good health with their consumers, insurance companies can also illuminate unnecessary health care. These are just a few examples of how the health care industry can help benefit their patients, but that does not mean every issue involving physician over utilization or quality of care is erased because there is a management mechanism set in place.
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). Staff Analysis Statement of Problem HCA, after following a conservative financial policy since its establishment, has entered the new decade preparing to make some changes in order to realign their financial strategy and capital structure. Since its establishment, HCA has often been used as a measure for the entire proprietary hospital industry. Is it now time for the market to realign their expectations for the industry as a whole? HCA has target goals that need to be met in order to accomplish milestones in the future.
CAH needs to add value to be able get more patients that will increase the profits for CAH. One way for CAH to add value would be to focus on disease management. Take diabetes, the patient would see a primary care doctor, got to an optometrist and get their labs done together and the providers would communicate with each other to make sure the patient is getting the care they need. The primary care doctor could make sure that the patients are reminded of when their next appointments are. Using web-based health also would help to add value ("Capturing the Value from Value-Added Services"). The Veterans Affairs Administration uses a web-based health notification system to allow patients to know what their lab results are and to refill prescriptions from their home that would then be mailed to
There are several factors that contribute to the complexity of the revenue cycle. Frequent changes in contracts with payers, legislative mandates, and managed care are just a few examples of reasons why revenue cycle in the healthcare industry is so complex. Furthermore, the problems that arise in the steps of the revenue cycle further complicate the whole process. For example, going through the steps of the revenue cycle efficiently is extremely difficult when it is managed by poorly trained personnel. Furthermore, if a healthcare provider does not have the proper information system to track patient records and billing, receiving reimbursement can become difficult. In addition, one of the main factors that delay payments is denial from the insurance companies. The reason for Denial includes incorrect coding, the certain sequence of care and medical necessity or even delay in submitting claims. Lastly, inefficient patient correspondence can not only hinder the process of revenue cycle but also result in many patient complaints (Wolper, 2004).
Barton, P.L. (2010). Understanding the U.S. health services system. (4th ed). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.