Capital Finance

Once an independent hospital decides it wants to join a larger hospital or health system, it must do the footwork to prepare for a merger and find the right partner.

Keeping a medical practice going these days has become a complex and pricey endeavor. Near the top of the list of increasing costs: information technology.

While economic pressures are external drivers, there are several internal indicators that may signal when an independent hospital should consider aligning itself with a partner.

Investor appetite for medical office buildings has been strong since 2012 and that trend has continued into 2013 and looks like it will persist.

Large and small providers and payers enlist a variety of strategies to develop accountable care organizations and other value-based models.

Hospital administrators are saying recent recommendations from the Office of Inspector General regarding critical access hospital certification will result in hospital closures.

With labor costs in 2013 accounting for approximately 60 percent of hospital and health system operating budgets, many healthcare systems and hospitals have begun assessing high-labor cost areas with an eye to curbing those costs.

U.S. nonprofit hospitals' financial performance in fiscal year 2012 wasn't strong, and the outlook for FY 2013 doesn't appear to be much better.

Nancy-Ann DeParle may have left the Obama White House last January, but she did not leave healthcare behind. She spoke with HFN about her healthcare investing strategy as well as broader trends in the healthcare industry.

Medians for U.S. not-for-profit healthcare systems remained steady in 2012, but analysts expect a weakening in ratios due to the pressures of healthcare reform.