https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/ot...43c8d013ba66df82f162&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Over half of Mississippi's rural hospitals are at risk of closing immediately or in the near future, according to the state's leading public health official. Dr. Daniel Edney, the state health officer, spoke to state senators at a hearing Monday about the financial pressure on Mississippi hospitals. Edney said 54% of the state's rural hospitals — 38 — could close. The potential closures threaten to exacerbate poor health outcomes in one of the nation's poorest states. “That is a situation that is intolerable from an economic standpoint — to lose 54% of our hospitals in the state — much less from an access to care perspective,” Edney said. Rural hospitals were under economic strain before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the problems have worsened as costs to provide care have increased. Mississippi's high number of low-income uninsured people means hospitals are on the hook for more uncompensated care. At the same time, labor costs weigh on hospitals as they struggle to pay competitive wages to retain staff. “The costs on an income statement for a hospital have skyrocketed," said Scott Christensen, chair of the Mississippi Hospital Association Board of Governors. “The liabilities on the balance sheets of hospitals around the state have reached some unsustainable levels given what we face.” The crux of the problem facing Mississippi's hospitals is that revenues have not kept pace with rising costs, Christensen said. The strain is most acute in Mississippi's Delta region, an agricultural flatland where poverty remains entrenched. Greenwood Leflore Hospital has been cutting costs by reducing services and shrinking its workforce for months. But the medical facility hasn't been able to stave off the risk of imminent closure. Hospital leaders say they will be out of business before the end of the year without a cash infusion. At Greenwood Leflore and other hospitals across the state, maternity care units have been on the chopping block. Mississippi already has the nation’s highest fetal mortality rate, highest infant mortality rate and highest pre-term birth rate, and is among the worst states for maternal mortality. About 60% of births in Mississippi in 2020 were financed by Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A rising number of health care deserts are emerging in the Delta, but financial pressures are bearing down on hospitals in more prosperous areas of the state, as well, experts at the hearing said. But hospitals in poor communities often treat patients who don’t have insurance and can’t afford to pay for care out of pocket. An expansion of Medicaid coverage would reduce costs that result from uncompensated care. Gov. Tate Reeves and other Republican leaders have killed proposals to expand Medicaid, which primarily covers low-income workers whose jobs don’t provide private health insurance. Opponents of expansion say they don’t want to encourage reliance on government help for people who don’t need it. As a near-term solution, the Mississippi Hospital Association has suggested the state's Division of Medicaid work with federal officials to raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate cap to a higher level. The move would lower the cost of providing care for people who are already covered under the state's current Medicaid plan. Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan, who convened the hearing, said the financial outlook for Mississippi's hospitals is a “market failure” that warrants full-time attention. “What we need is somebody, somewhere in state government, who is charged with figuring what we want health care to look like now and five and 10 years down the road,” Bryan said. “Unless I'm terribly confused, there is nobody in your state government that has that charge.”
Then maybe we should not have a for-profit healthcare system? Hospitals with balance sheets, income statements... BOLLOCKS!
thoughts and prayers and if that doesn't work, bootstraps and if that doesn't work they're going to heaven anyway so no need to wear a mask or get vaxxed. Imagine being an MD and taking a post in rural MS? lol
Obamacare Drives Hospital Consolidation, Raising Prices For Patients Hospital behemoth Sutter Health—a non-profit organization in Northern California that has gradually acquired 24 hospitals and 5,000 physicians—will soon go to court to defend itself against allegations that it has violated the state's antitrust laws. The plaintiffs claim that Sutter illegally pushed competitors out of the market and raised prices for patients. Indeed, compared to Southern California, where the market is less concentrated, patients in Northern California pay 70% higher inpatient prices and up to 55% higher outpatient prices. This is just one example of a trend engulfing the health sector. Hospitals are rapidly consolidating. Small, independent healthcare providers are dying off—and not of natural causes. Obamacare is killing them. Obamacare's architects thought hospital consolidation would streamline care, improve the quality of medical services, and generate savings for patients. Now, nearly a decade later, it's clear they miscalculated. Obamacare encouraged consolidation by incentivizing providers to coordinate care and adjusting Medicare payments to make mergers a smarter financial option. The White House's top healthcare advisors wrote an open letter boasting that "these reforms will unleash forces that favor integration across the continuum of care." Hospitals responded to the Obama administration's incentives. There were 93 mergers and acquisitions in 2011. In 2017, that number hit 115, the highest total on record. Large corporate hospital systems also snapped up doctor's offices. Between 2015 and 2016 alone, some 5,000 physician practices were absorbed into larger operations. Consolidation, by design, reduces competition. So it should be no surprise that the new corporate behemoths have raised prices. Consider one study analyzing 25 metropolitan areas with the highest rate of hospital consolidation between 2010 and 2013. The analysis revealed that in the years following mergers, the average price of hospital stays in most areas increased between 11% and 54%. Or take a study of physician practices from Northwestern University. Researchers concluded that physician prices jumped 14% following an acquisition by a hospital. Consolidation can also compromise the quality of care. Independent physician groups and community hospitals tend to develop intimate connections with their patient populations. They have the freedom to properly customize care, unconstrained from bureaucratic controls. Even Obamacare's architects have acknowledged these ill effects. Bob Kocher, one of the authors of the open letter bragging about the positive impact of industry consolidation, has publicly called for a policy reversal. In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, Kocher wrote, "Having every provider in health care 'owned' by a single organization is more likely to be a barrier to better care." He also said the government should "make it easier for [independent practices] to thrive under ObamaCare and don't tip the scales toward consolidation." To reverse the damage done by Obamacare, policymakers need to unleash competition in the hospital industry. They can start by eliminating "certificate of need" laws. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have these statutes on the books, which require healthcare providers looking to build a new hospital to first prove there's sufficient patient need. These laws artificially constrain competition and entrench hospital monopolies. Per-capita health spending is 11% higher in states with certificate-of-need laws than those without them. Research from the Mercatus Center shows that eliminating such laws could save significant amounts of money. Florida, for example, would save $235 per capita in total health spending. New York would save $280. Making hospital prices more transparent would also help bring overall costs down. Patients typically have no clue what they'll pay when they visit the doctor. That makes it impossible for them to shop around. By listing prices upfront, patients can compare costs and choose care that offers the best value. The architects of Obamacare wanted to consolidate hospitals. They got their wish—and the results have been disastrous. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes...une-to-take-on-musk-in-space/?sh=114174b15f0d