Finance

Hospitals still struggling to get operations, financials back on track, Kaufman Hall reports

COVID-19 continues to strain providers a year and a half into the pandemic, the poll of hospital leaders finds. Labor and supply costs are a key concern now.

By Hailey Mensik • Oct. 19, 2021

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Walgreens doubles stake in provider network VillageMD with $5.2B investment

Thursday's investment hikes Walgreens' stake in VillageMD from 30% to 63% as the pharmacy operator looks to increases its presence in the red-hot primary care market.

By Rebecca Pifer • Oct. 14, 2021

UnitedHealth, with profit up 29%, expects contested Change acquisition to close early 2022

The closing news is likely to anger hospital groups, which have raised concerns the deal could hurt health IT competition and give UnitedHealthcare an unfair advantage in contract negotiations. DOJ is investigating the deal.

By Rebecca Pifer • Oct. 14, 2021

Hospitals still spending more on PPE, labor as result of COVID-19

Hospitals spent more than $3 billion on personal protective equipment since the start of the pandemic, though costs have steadily declined since peaking last year, according to a Premier analysis.

By Hailey Mensik • Oct. 13, 2021

Best Buy's latest health acquisition builds on plan to expand at-home care

It's the third healthcare buy for the Minneapolis-based consumer electronics giant, as the company looks to capitalize on the aging population and rising demand for lower-cost care.

By Rebecca Pifer • Oct. 12, 2021

Hospital M&A in 2021 characterized by fewer but much larger deals

Hospitals are increasingly looking outside traditional care delivery methods threatened by COVID-19 to diversify business models by pursuing stakes in home health, virtual care and post-acute services.

By Shannon Muchmore • Oct. 07, 2021

Deep Dive

How Morgan Health hopes to finally move the needle on employer health costs: 5 insights from a chat with the venture's CEO

Morgan Health learned a lot from Haven, but is a different beast with better knowledge of the buy-in needed to disrupt the health benefits space, CEO Dan Mendelson told Healthcare Dive.

By Rebecca Pifer • Oct. 07, 2021

Labor shortages will strain hospital budgets through 2022, Moody's says

The pressure on health system profitability comes as lucrative non-emergency procedures are on hold in some areas to handle incoming COVID-19 inpatients, according to the report.

By Shannon Muchmore • Oct. 06, 2021

Digital health funding reaches new heights with $21.3B so far this year

Overall deal volume decreased, though, with 169 deals in Q3 compared to 223 deals in Q2. The third quarter also saw fewer megadeals of $100 million or above.

By Hailey Mensik • Oct. 05, 2021

AMA calls out shrinking payer competition amid rising antitrust interest in Washington

The study by the physician group is the latest salvo in a messaging war between provider and payer lobbies as they work to shift the blame for rapidly rising medical costs.

By Rebecca Pifer • Sept. 29, 2021

AHA-backed study predicts hospitals could lose $54B in profit this year

Despite the dire prediction, most major U.S. systems reported major year-over-year profit jumps in the second quarter, illustrating the industry continues to be highly lucrative.

By Rebecca Pifer • Sept. 21, 2021

HCA to acquire 5 Utah hospitals from Steward Health Care

The move comes less than a week after the state's largest provider, Intermountain Healthcare, announced a merger with SCL Health to expand its footprint to Colorado, Montana and Kansas.

By Rebecca Pifer • Sept. 21, 2021

CommonSpirit's net income jumps to $5.5B in 2021, reversing major COVID-19 loss

However, the nation's largest nonprofit system said the pandemic will likely keep stressing operational performance in the coming fiscal year.

By Rebecca Pifer • Sept. 20, 2021

Ascension rebounds from last summer's pandemic losses

After posting a $1 billion loss during the prior-year period, the nonprofit Catholic giant posted about $5.7 billion in net income for its fiscal year ended June 30.

By Hailey Mensik • Sept. 17, 2021

Delta patients clog hospitals, spur more procedure delays

Intermountain is the latest system to announce it's putting non-emergency procedures back on hold at 13 of its hospitals, and expects the pause to last several weeks, CEO Marc Harrison said.

By Hailey Mensik • Sept. 14, 2021

Preventable hospitalization costs among unvaccinated patients surged to $3.7B in August, KFF says

More than 280,000 hospitalizations from COVID-19 between June and August could have been prevented by vaccination, researchers found.

By Rebecca Pifer • Sept. 14, 2021

HHS to release $25.5B in COVID-19 relief funding for providers

Some providers have been anxiously waiting on additional disbursements from the provider relief fund, especially for the period of the pandemic that saw the highest hospitalization rates.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 13, 2021

Biogen offered a window into what's holding up Aduhelm. Investors didn't like what they saw.

At Morgan Stanley’s healthcare conference, executives detailed how the launch of their Alzheimer’s drug has been slower than expected, due in large part to lingering questions about clinical trial data and insurance coverage.

By Jacob Bell • Sept. 10, 2021

Pandemic relief funds were unevenly distributed, didn't account for community burden: Health Affairs

Researchers analyzed HHS data on the Provider Relief Fund and found hospitals serving fewer patients with employer-sponsored insurance received less funding.

By Hailey Mensik • Sept. 09, 2021

Humana reports uptick in MA hospitalizations, dip in non-COVID-19 admissions

An anticipated decline in non-COVID-19 care is expected to offset any increases incurred by COVID-19 testing and treatment costs, the insurer said Tuesday.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 08, 2021

Feds sue UPMC, heart surgeon for billing multiple surgeries at same time

The False Claims Act litigation also accuses the health system of ignoring or minimizing complaints by employees and staff.

By Ron Shinkman • Sept. 07, 2021

Beaumont, Spectrum move ahead with merger

The two Michigan health systems have signed a formal integration agreement, marking the next step in the merger process that was first announced in June.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 07, 2021

AHA presents Congress with laundry list of requests for budget reconciliation bill

The hospital lobby asked that some of the funding be used to address the ongoing labor shortage, shore up mental health services and address ongoing coverage gaps.

By Ron Shinkman • Sept. 03, 2021

Actuaries suggest individual insurance premiums won't see large swings in 2022

There is more information available now about how COVID-19 continues to affect healthcare spending and utilization, unlike the 2021 rate-setting season, and "those impacts are not expected to be material," according to a report.

By Samantha Liss • Sept. 03, 2021