Capital Finance
Summa Health System and Catholic Health Partners are on the road to becoming accountable care organizations, and they're sharing what they've learned with attendees of the Healthcare Financial Management Association's ANI 2013 conference taking place next week in Orlando, Fla.
Not-for-profit hospitals are feeling the pinch as their pension plans take a bigger bite out of their budget. The culprit, according to a recent Standard and Poor's report, is low discount rates, which have eroded the funding status of defined benefit (DB) plans in 2012.
Health insurer Priority Health has announced it has contracted with Healthcare Blue Book to publish cost and quality information for more than 300 procedures by facility and physician for its insurance members in Michigan.
Healthcare sector merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is expected to increase in 2013 compared to last year, but will likely be smaller-sized deals as health systems continue to consolidate and bulk up to prepare for health reform.
It may not be quite at epidemic levels, but merger mania has definitely taken hold in the healthcare field, and most certainly in New England.
One of the latest examples is the proposed partnership of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, the Lahey Clinic of Burlington, Mass., and Atrius Health, a Newton, Mass.-based consortium of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. Atrius Health is the largest physician organization in Massachusetts, with 1,000 physician members.
Healthcare organizations have often been criticized for being slow to adapt to changes in the marketplace. A recent accelerator program spearheaded by Independence Blue Cross (IBC), Penn Medicine and DreamIt Ventures hopes to change that by backing 10 innovative healthcare startups. And while none of these startups are likely to revolutionize medicine, they do suggest that there are many entrepreneurs with promising solutions that may reduce the cost of care while maintaining its quality.
Eye care company Bausch + Lomb is being purchased by one of Canada's largest pharmaceutical companies, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, for $8.7 billion the two companies announced on Monday.
Panelists at the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance's Convergence Summit say there is no ideal business plan for entrepreneurs wanting to get into the digital health space, but what is required is patience and knowing what consumers need.
The bidding war to purchase Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. ended last week when its current owner, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (SCL) Health System in Denver, announced it plans to sell the hospital to another Catholic chain, Providence Health & Services, located in southern California.
Venture capitalists invested $1.4 billion in 167 life sciences deals during the first quarter of 2013, a 14 percent drop in dollars and 16 percent slide in the number of deals, compared with last year’s first quarter.