Budgeting
This is the third such collaboration of rural hospitals operated by the for-profit Cibolo Health.
The company pulled in $6.29 billion in profit during Q1, but was hit by Medicare Advantage expenses.
Primary care physicians see an average pay increase of only 1.4%, while specialists experience an even smaller increase of 1%.
House GOP members are demanding cuts of at least $1.5 billion in federal spending, but Senate Republicans are divided.
Declining physician payments and rising operational costs place emergency medicine at financial risk, RAND finds.
While the current climate is putting a "chill" on healthcare decision-making, hospital volumes and operating margins remain steady.
Frederick Health Hospital and Palomar Health had weaker balance sheets and little cushion for added stress, says Fitch.
CMS projects $750 million in savings from ending the four models early, but stopped short of saying where the savings would occur.
Providers have partially offset a lower patient collection rate by improving POS collections and collection on bad debt.
Sequestration and bad debt reimbursement continue to place added pressure on revenues.