Accounting & Financial Management

Many primary care practitioners will be a little poorer next year because of the expiration of a health law program that has been paying them a 10 percent bonus for caring for Medicare patients.

In the last five years, 57 rural hospitals in the United States have closed, according to data from the Rural Health Research Program at the University of North Carolina. Others have declared bankruptcy, like the Mendocino Coast District Hospital.

This year, Healthcare Finance is asking its audience of healthcare finance decision-makers to help us rank the top issues with its inaugural, "Year that was, year that will be" survey.

As the state-run Hawaii Health Systems Corp. faces a $50 million budget shortfall, one of its key executives is mulling his options after laying claim to some of the system's most successful initiatives.

The role of the chief financial officer is one in flux, and areas not traditionally under their authority are now taking center stage.

According to the CareCloud Practice Profitability Index, about 59 percent of owners surveyed said they were not planning to sell or merge, an uptick compared to the 54 percent who said the same thing last year.

Only a third of providers interviewed believe the ACA will lower the per-patient cost of healthcare, compared to two-thirds a year ago, according to a 2015 Mortenson Healthcare Industry study.

While it's been in effect since January 2014, the Healthcare EFT Standard via ACH is still a source of confusion for many medical providers.

In support of strategy formulation, finance plays a vital role in helping other leaders to understand the organization's current financial picture, and to show the financial ramifications of proposed strategies.

Due to concerns of insolvency, federal and state officials have ordered the nonprofit co-op Health Republic Insurance of New York to cease writing policies and to close by the end of the year.