Apr 27, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Weaker finances at the nation’s hospitals causes administrators to further shrink the budgets for clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology services
Hospital admissions across the country continue to be flat or in decline over recent years. The result is less revenue for many hospitals. As a result, administrators continue to shrink the budgets of hospital service lines—including clinical laboratory services. For pathologists and clinical laboratory leaders, this poses the challenge of setting innovative strategies that take into account the changes in payment and delivery models.
Hospital Inpatient Admissions Have Been Declining over Recent Years
Modern Healthcare (MH) recently published a story on the declining inpatient admissions trend. The story, written by Rachel Landen, focused on admission rates at thirteen large hospital systems for the third quarter of 2014. These included: (more…)
Feb 12, 2014 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Market indicators support predictions of tougher financial times ahead for hospital-based clinical laboratories and pathology groups
New statistics for 2013 on employment in the healthcare and hospital sectors show the lowest rates of growth since 1990. This is a signal to pathologists and clinical laboratory executives that much belt-tightening is taking place by all types of providers.
For 2013, the healthcare sector added just 271,000 jobs. This was 2% less than the annual average since 1990, noted a recent report in Modern Healthcare. (more…)
Mar 12, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Blame it on employers requiring higher deductibles of employees, often starting at $1,500 per year
Employers continue to increase the amount of deductibles and co-pays in their health benefit plans. This has a direct consequence for clinical laboratories and pathology groups, because it often creates the need to collect more money from patients at the time of service.
A recent survey showed that employers are changing health benefit plans to require workers to pay more money for both insurance coverage and medical care, a story in Modern Healthcare reported. Among such changes to employer-sponsored health plans are higher deductibles, higher premiums, greater employee liability for cost of care, and greater responsibility for health-impacting lifestyle choices.
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