Hospital And Physician Consolidation Has Thwarted Payers’ Efforts To Reduce Health Care Cost Growth

Modern Healthcare: Moves To Lower Healthcare Costs Overwhelmed By Hospital Consolidation
Payers have failed to reduce healthcare cost growth in the employer group market in six cities because of hospital and physician consolidation, a new study found. Policymakers could do more to strengthen employer and insurance moves to drive down prices, said researchers at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms. But if incremental policy moves aren't successful, that could boost support for more dramatic steps such as government rate-setting, they concluded. (Meyer, 10/25)

Modern Healthcare: Independent Hospitals Hold Their Own On Revenue Growth
Revenue at independent hospitals grew at a faster pace than health system-owned hospitals, suggesting that returns may be diminishing on mergers and acquisitions, new data show. Net patient revenue at independent hospitals rose at an average rate of 4.8% from 2014 to 2018, compared with 4% at their system-owned peers, according to Definitive Healthcare's analysis of around 5,500 U.S. hospitals. That is likely in part due to the larger asset base of health systems, but also revenue gains from consolidation may be plateauing, said Kate Shamsuddin, senior vice president of strategy at Definitive. (Kacik, 10/25)

The Washington Post: A New Clinic At Children’s National Hospital Treats Undocumented Kids With Diabetes. But They’re Hesitant To Seek Care.
She called them one at a time, working her way through medical records family by family, hoping to convince the undocumented and uninsured to bring their children back to the hospital. They could receive free care from doctors, nurses, nutritionists, she explained. They could finally get their children’s diabetes under control. All they had to do was show up. (Marissa J. Lang, 10/25)

The CT Mirror: State, Hospitals, Still Trying To Reach Legal Settlement
When Gov. Ned Lamont and Connecticut’s hospital industry announced a tentative deal in late May to resolve a longstanding lawsuit, they estimated the deal would be ratified by September. Now, nearly two months past the target date, details are still being hammered out, with both sides saying little except they remain on track for a resolution. (Phaneuf, 10/28)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Catching Patients Off Guard: A Call For Greater Transparency For 'Facility Fees' 
A facility fee is often applied by medical offices, urgent care centers and clinics affiliated with hospitals to spread costs across the network to boost revenue to offset losses. The fees are legal, but many say they’re poorly disclosed and carry a high cost compared to the services provided. ...Facility fees have become more frequent as the number of physicians affiliated with hospitals or larger health care networks have increased over the past 20 years, according to Tyler Brannen, director of health economics with the New Hampshire Insurance Department. (Phelps, 10/26)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two Milwaukee Women Were Turned Away From Hospitals And Died
No federal agency tracks when hospitals close their doors to ambulances, a practice known as ambulance diversion. No agency investigates when such delays lead to the death or serious disability of patients. What's more, many states and cities do not collect any information on diversions — and when they do, the information is often incomplete or barred from public release. Paramedics know a diversion took place, but not what happens to the patients once they are back on the road. Meanwhile, patients — or surviving family members — may not even realize care was delayed. (Diedrich, 10/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ambulance Diversion: Hospital Closure Policies More Likely Affect Sicker, Poorer Patients
When hospitals close to ambulances, the people most affected tend to be sicker, older and poorer. Those are the patients who are most likely to be in the ambulances, studies have shown, and therefore the ones sent instead to hospitals farther away or less qualified to care for them. (Diedrich and Crowe, 10/25)

Columbus Dispatch: Two Possible Legionnaires' Cases Investigated At Mount Carmel East Hospital 
The Mount Carmel Health System is investigating two “possible health-care associated” cases of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, in people treated recently at Mount Carmel East hospital, according to a spokesperson for the system. The system said in a written statement released late Saturday night that it is partnering with Columbus Public Health and the Ohio Department of Health in conjunction with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify the source of the legionella bacteria. (Dispatch, 10/27)

Chicago Tribune: Aurora Panel Recommends $9 Million More For Project At Former Copley Site 
An Aurora City Council committee has recommended an incentive package for the second phase of the former Copley Hospital campus project that includes at least $9 million more from the city. Now known as Avalon Heights, developers Fox Valley Developers LLC have proposed a total $128.5 million project at the former hospital campus that would include 102 units of senior housing, 53 units for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a pharmacy, a neighborhood health care facility that will include urgent care, a surgery center and a counseling center, a 1.4-acre Fox Valley Park District neighborhood park, a new administration center for the East Aurora School District and open space throughout the campus for the public, as well as children at Bardwell Elementary School. (Lord, 10/25)