Articles
Governance Effectiveness
Board Appointments and Elections
Laurence R. Smith was appointed chair of the board of directors of White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital, where he has been a trustee since 2004.
Robert A. Toohey was elected chair of the board of trustees of the Atlantic Health System, Morristown, N.J., where he has been a member of the board since 2007.
Michael A. “Trey” Crabb III was appointed to the board of directors of the UNC Health Care System, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Financial Oversight, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends
Charitable Donations Up in 2014, Including Health Sector
Charitable donations of $358.38 billion in 2014 represent an increase of 7.1 percent in current dollars and 5.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars more than the $339.94 billion that Americans donated in 2013, according to the Giving Institute’s Giving USA 2015 annual report.
Donations to the health sector were up 3.8 percentage points in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Financial Oversight, Operational Excellence, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends
Eighty seven percent of hospitals have fee-for-service contracts with payers
The two other most common payment models are Medicaid contracts with states or through a Medicaid health plan (60 percent) and direct contractual relationships with employers (24 percent), according to the American Hospital Association’s 2014 Survey of Care Systems and Payment.
Care Delivery, Quality & Patient Safety, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends
Mental Disorders Outgrow Other Costly Conditions
Cases involving mental disorders and their associated expenditures increased more than those of heart disease, cancer or any of the other top five costliest conditions, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report.
The number of patients treated for mental disorders grew by 14 million between 2002 and 2012, while expenditures for mental disorders grew by $25 million. Additionally, the percentage of out-of-pocket expenses was highest for the treatment of mental disorders in both 2002 and 2012.
Workforce
Healthcare Staff Turnover Tops Recruiters Concerns
The 2015 Healthcare Recruiting Trends Survey found that although demand for health care services is predicted to increase in the next 10 years — particularly in outpatient settings — the supply of health care providers will simultaneously decrease with shortages of qualified physicians and nurses also predicted in the next 10 years.
Financial Oversight, Care Delivery
More Adults Able to Pay Family Medical Bills
A recent survey from the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center found that fewer adults younger than 65 reported problems paying family medical bills than they did in September 2013. In 2013, just before the first health insurance marketplace open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act, 22.0 percent of adults under 65 reported difficulty. In March 2015, just after the second open enrollment period ended, only 17.3 percent did.
Affordable Care Act, Legislation and Legislative Advocacy, Trustee Services
BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act Subsidies
This is an excerpt of real-time analysis of today’s Supreme Court ruling provided by Sean Marotta, an associate in the Washington office of Hogan Lovells, who focuses on appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and is outside counsel for the American Hospital Association. Marotta will be providing real-time analysis of the ruling on AHA Stat, the association’s blog.
Governance Effectiveness
Board Appointments and Elections
John R. (Bob) Ferguson III was elected chair of the board of trustees of health system Texas Health Resources, Arlington, Texas, and Wesley R. (Wes) Turner was elected as the board’s vice chair. Kenneth W. Reeves Sr., Bishop J. Michael Lowry, and the Rev. Dr. Janet DeVries were also elected to the board.
Physician Workforce, Workforce
Physician Compensation, Dissatisfaction Elevated
Physician compensation and job dissatisfaction both have increased since last year, according to the 2015 Medscape Physician Compensation Report. Recently released results from the annual survey revealed that most physicians saw a pay increase last year, with the average primary care physician earning $195,000 a year, and the average specialist making $284,000.
Operational Excellence, Physician Workforce, Strategic Planning, Issues & Trends, Workforce
Physicians Report Increase in Emergency Department Visits
Emergency physicians have noticed an increase in the volume of emergency department patients since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on Jan. 1, 2014, according to a survey of American College of Emergency Physicians members. The poll, which sought to understand changes in ED patient volume and care since the requirement to have health insurance took effect, showed that 47 percent of emergency physicians saw a slight increase in the number of patients in the ED, while 28 percent saw a significant increase.