Healthcare Reform and Hospitals

Howdy,

In this post, I would like to discuss what healthcare reform would mean for hospitals.

In his article, Erin L. Nissley explains that the healthcare reform would include changes that affect the "bottom line" of hospitals. Such changes include the yearly decreasing Medicare Hospitals would receive, money that many hospitals rely on to remain functional. Medicare payments will not stop entirely though, as it will eventually be distributed based on productivity. In a nutshell, it forces "cash-strapped hospitals...to cut costs and improve the quality of services they offer."

Nissley also notes in his article that Medicare payments make up a significant portion of revenue for hospitals, and usually payments are increased each year. With the new reform, however, experts predict that over the next 10 years more than $112 billion dollars will be cut from these payments. This lack of funding will force hospitals to behave as any other business would and cut costs.

As bad as this all seems though, there is a way to stay well funded: meet federal benchmarks for productivity and quality of care. How to achieve this standard is the question that must be addressed. Luckily, there are many ideas on how to solve this problem, such as the implication of electronic health records, and collaborations between local hospitals.

Whichever path is chosen to meet these new standards, healthcare reform will change the way hospitals run, hopefully for the better.

Thanks for Reading

Sources:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/health-care-reform-provisions-mean-hospitals-must-do-more-with-less-1.934579#axzz1LoHGd54d