Budgeting

Variations on traditional group health insurance via insurer-administered self-funding remain the norm for many large employers. But some health systems are considering alternatives in the face of high costs, new regulations and demand for more choice.

While reducing reliance on expensive inpatient care is a sensible goal for hospitals, the transition away from a bricks-and-mortar, fee-for-service model is creating tremendous pressures on chief financial officers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recent 10-year projection of national health expenditures includes retail spending on prescription drugs, but a more complete picture of pharma spending would include the nonretail segment.

Most hospitals fall well short of their cost reduction targets, in part because the ability of chief financial officers to meaningfully impact how operational and clinical leaders approach the issue is limited.

While a few states are moving toward more healthcare price transparency, none have gone as far as Massachusetts to make the information accessible to consumers. But the most frequent early users of the newly disclosed data are probably providers.

A new report by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association paints a grim picture of the daunting financial challenges facing hospitals and other healthcare organizations in that state.

Since the recession began, credit rating agencies have generally held a negative outlook on not-for-profit healthcare providers in the U.S. The Affordable Care Act has not helped.

Hospitals and health systems try their best to anticipate and meet the demand for specific drugs. But drug shortages - whether due to outbreaks of specific illnesses or unanticipated supply bottlenecks - are a fact of life in the medical world.

Underfunding security is a fairly common practice in the healthcare industry, but CFOs need to recognize how critical it is to provide the appropriate resources for security initiatives and technologies.

New research suggests that socioeconomic factors can account for most of the geographical variation in Medicare spending. As a result, larger socio-demographic issues must be considered when assessing the quality of care offered by healthcare providers.