Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Report: Financial Pressures On Hospital Operating Margins Easing
Modern Healthcare: Kaufman Hall: Signs Of Hospital Margin Stability Emerging
Hospital operating margins continued to decline in 2022 as labor expenses climbed, but financial pressures may be easing, according to a new report. The median hospital operating margin dropped 39% from 2021 to 2022 as labor costs increased 9%, a monthly Kaufman Hall analysis of data from more than 900 hospitals found. However, expense growth slowed and inpatient volumes improved in December, which could signal a more stable financial outlook for early 2023, analysts said in the report. Here are five takeaways from the data. (Kacik, 1/30)
Bloomberg: Moody's Warns Hospitals Of More Bad Debt As Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Ends
Hospitals will likely see bad debt soar when a pandemic-era rule expires allowing states to kick patients off Medicaid April 1, according to a January report from Moody’s Investors Service. The rule had encouraged states to keep beneficiaries continuously enrolled — regardless of eligibility — in order to receive higher reimbursements. Once states start trimming their rolls, however, hospital revenue is expected to decline as health-care providers will need to assume costs from an expected wave of uninsured patients. (Coleman-Lochner, 1/30)
In other health care industry news —
Axios: Trauma Support In High Demand From Companies Amid Relentless Wave Of Tragedies
Mental health professionals are seeing an increase in requests from companies for trauma support training. From self-care practices to recognizing the physiological impacts of trauma, more organizations have realized that workers can't just be expected to handle the trauma on their own, according to Ruth Yeo-Peterman, a resilience programming trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture. (King, 1/30)
The New York Times: Barbara Stanley, Influential Suicide Researcher, Dies At 73
Barbara H. Stanley, a psychologist and researcher who developed a simple, effective tool for suicide prevention, died on Wednesday in a hospice in Scotch Plains, N.J. She was 73. Her daughter, Melissa Morris, said the cause was ovarian cancer. Dr. Stanley, a professor of psychology at Columbia University and the director of suicide prevention training at New York State Psychiatric Institute, helped propel a major shift in the field of mental health as researchers began to view suicide as a distinct problem that could be directly addressed, rather than as a symptom of another disorder. (Barry, 1/29)
