Budgeting

Squeezed budgets make it difficult to finance hospital equipment, so hospitals are turning to flexible equipment financing as a solution.

Back in the early 2000s, Mid-State Health Center was in dire need. The new CEO knew something had to be done immediately, but the facility didn't have access to appropriate funding. So, the CEO got creative.

Healthcare Finance News talked to Debra Miller, director of health policy for the Council of State Governments, about the top five health policy issues states are focused on in 2014.

Hospitals in the state of Maine are bracing for an uncertain future in 2014. Maine is one of 23 states not planning on expanding Medicaid this year.

Ten years ago, executives at MaineGeneral Health, a rural healthcare system consisting of several acute care hospitals, physician practices, outpatient facilities and homecare services in central Maine, knew they had a decision to make regarding two of their facilities: they could upgrade their buildings or start from scratch.

With the closing of 2013 and arrival of 2014, it is a time to look ahead at a few of the industry trends we can expect in the upcoming 12 months.

Hospitals and medical practices across the country have continued to increase their privacy and security budgets over the past five years, said a new HIMSS survey released Wednesday. Officials, however, say the percentage of the budget dedicated to these issues is still cause for concern.

As recent studies have shown, health systems across the country are increasing their IT spending in the next five years or so. Given that, it is imperative that chief information officers and chief financial officers partner to create strategic budgets said a CIO and CFO during an education session Tuesday at HFMA's national conference in Las Vegas.

With an increasing number of healthcare organizations realizing they need to focus on labor costs, their largest operating expense, technology companies that provide budgeting and forecasting software are bringing the accurate data and predictive information to organizations right when they need it most.

A broad survey of organizations within the healthcare industry show that pay increase budgets -- the money allocated primarily for pay raises of existing employees -- rose a modest 2.5 for 2012, according to Compensation Data Healthcare from Compdata Surveys.