Operations

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and health insurer Highmark have been engaged in contentious litigation for some time, amid a contract set to end in 2014, and now a series of advertising campaigns has brought Pennsylvania's governor into the debate.

Positive price to earnings ratios and net debt to EBITDA mean healthcare firms have confidence and capacity to fund future acquisitions.

In an effort to offset some of the expected impact of the Affordable Care Act, the executives at Mountain States Health Alliance knew they had to make a bold move. They chose to implement lean.

Despite the relatively weaker contribution of health employment growth to the current recovery, the health sector share of total employment is equal to 10.71 percent as of July 2013, barely below its all-time high rate.

Hospital IT budgets may be absorbed by EHRs but administrators are making other IT-related investments.

Medians for U.S. not-for-profit healthcare systems remained steady in 2012, but analysts expect a weakening in ratios due to the pressures of healthcare reform.

Instead of "going to war" to resolve contentious disputes, healthcare companies should employ preemptive dispute resolution procedures in contracts.

An army is amassing – composed of payers, providers, healthcare organizations, businesses, community and consumer groups – to help educate and guide a large part of the population to sign up for coverage on the health insurance exchanges.

In today’s healthcare environment, providers must carefully balance the need to control costs against their mission to deliver the highest quality care.

Hospitals, universities, Indian tribes, patient advocacy groups and local food banks were among organizations awarded $67 million in federal grants in August to help people sign up for coverage in new online health insurance exchanges that open for enrollment Oct. 1.