Economics

This channel highlights factors that impact hospital and healthcare economics and revenue. This includes news on healthcare policies, reimbursement, marketing, business plans, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain, salaries, staffing, and the implementation of a cost-effective environment for patients and providers.

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Team-based approach needs 63% percent capitation to be viable in primary care

Sixty-three percent capitation would needed in order to make population health management, including team- and non-visit-based services, financially viable for a primary care practice.

Hospital spending growth falls to 28-year low

Between June 2016 and June 2017, hospital spending grew by 0.8 percent, according to revised economic indicators data posted by the Altarum Institute.

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Tenet selling more hospitals amid discussion of company break-up

Tenet Healthcare announced it will sell eight hospitals in the U.S. and its nine hospitals and clinics in the United Kingdom, yielding up to $1 billion for the company, though breaking up the company’s three main business lines is also a possibility, according to outgoing CEO Trevor Fetter.

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Combining addiction treatment, primary care improves access for opioid addiction

Treating opioid addiction by combining primary care and addiction treatment leads to higher rates of drug abstinence, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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76% of pregnant women use the internet for medication info

Accessing medical information over the internet can be helpful to quickly gain tips in keeping healthy—but it's unknown how often these searches lead to one purchasing online prescriptions. A study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing examined rates of pregnant women who search online for medication advice and purchase prescriptions.

Small acquisitions driving the healthcare consolidation trend

With many hospital-owned physician practices exceeding federal guidelines for controlling a market, observers both inside and outside the industry may be asking why regulators aren’t blocking more of these mergers. That’s because the physician-fueled deals are too small to trigger notice by those charged with fighting monopolies.

Washington hospital sued for allegedly withholding charity care

St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington, has been sued by the state’s attorney general for allegedly instructing employees not to mention the availability of charity care to patients, even when they were “obviously low-income or homeless.”

Consolidation trend requires new approaches to preserving competition

Much of the September issue of Health Affairs deals with the increasing consolidation of healthcare organizations. To maintain competition, regulators need to do more than rely on antitrust enforcement.

Around the web

Stryker, a global medtech company based out of Michigan, has kicked off 2025 with a bit of excitement. The company says Inari’s peripheral vascular portfolio is highly complementary to its own neurovascular portfolio.

RBMA President Peter Moffatt discusses declining reimbursement rates, recruiting challenges and the role of artificial intelligence in transforming the industry.

Mark Isenberg, executive vice president of Zotec Partners, discusses key developments that will reshape the specialty this year.