Hospitals Step Up Efforts To Control Spending

The Fiscal Times: Hospitals Launch New Push To Slash Labor Costs
Faced with the prospect that the Affordable Care Act's Medicare cost control measures will remain in place even if the Supreme Court rules its individual mandate and other insurance reforms are unconstitutional, hospital and physician groups are stepping up their efforts to control spending with a special emphasis on limiting labor costs. The pressure has become especially acute in states like Arizona, where the leading hospital system now treats more patients on low-paying Medicaid than those who have private insurance. Arizona has been hit hard by the downturn in real estate and other lingering after effects of the Great Recession (Goozner, 4/10).