Richard Pizzi

Reimbursement cuts and new payment models resulting from healthcare reform are the biggest challenges confronting U.S. hospitals, according to a new survey of hospital CEOs.

Carolinas Healthcare System, based in Charlotte, N.C., has been granted a Certificate of Need (CON) by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to construct a 64-bed hospital in Fort Mill, S.C.

Everyone following national economic policy news knows the basics: the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, authorized by August’s Budget Control Act, must create a plan to reduce the national deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. This plan must be in place by Nov. 23, and we all expect Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to be hit hard.

U.S. healthcare prices increased ever so slightly in August 2011, rising 0.1 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In an interview with Richard Pizzi, editor of Healthcare Finance News, Jay Weiss, vice president at Symphony Corporation, offered readers insight into trends in healthcare human resources management over the course of the next year. His firm, based in Madison, Wis., specializes in healthcare management technology and services, with a heavy emphasis in human capital management solutions.

Susan Reese is chief executive nurse at Kronos, a Chelmsford, Mass.-based workforce management solutions and services vendor. She spoke recently with Healthcare Finance News editor Richard Pizzi about the changing relationship between the hospital business office and a hospital’s nursing leadership.

There has been much heated national discussion surrounding credit rating agencies since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the sovereign credit rating of the United States.

At the beginning of August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued its final rule updating Medicare inpatient payment policies and rates for hospitals in fiscal year 2012, and some observers were surprised by the results.

Ten New Hampshire hospitals have filed a federal lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire, seeking to enjoin the state from enacting its fiscal 2012-13 budget.

There has been an excess of depressing economic news in the United States this summer. We’ve witnessed the absurdity of the Congressional “debate” over raising the debt ceiling, which led Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the U.S. sovereign credit rating. A jittery stock market combined with weaker than expected job gains have left many economists speculating that the United States may be headed back into recession.