Budgeting
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.
A program that combines a mobile app, analytics and direct intervention is showing promise in reducing the costs associated with hospitals' most expensive patients -- the so-called "super-utilizers."
New research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Premier, Inc., concludes that the inappropriate use of antibiotics in U.S. hospitals could result in an estimated $163 million in excessive costs.
U.S. employers plan to continue offering health insurance plans to their employees, even in the face of rising healthcare costs and the availability of the exchanges.