profits

Massachusetts hospitals have collectively seen a substantial increase in profit over the past two years, with profits almost doubling between 2004 and 2006, according to an analysis of public financial data by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Not surprisingly, given longstanding tensions on the issue, MNA is arguing that hospitals should use these funds to boost staff-to-patient ratios. Hospitals say that they've boosted staffing by 15 percent over the past three years, but the union …

Two former Siemens executives pled guilty this week rigging a $49 million contract to provide equipment to a Cook County (Illinois) hospital. To engineer the fraud the two execs, Daniel P. Desmond and Ellen Roth, had claimed they were following rules for fostering a minority participation in their contract with the county's John H. Stroger hospital. In their bid, two claimed they had joint-ventured with a minority partner which would share 30 percent of profits from the deal. In reality, …

So you don't get paid for services rendered--is that charity care or bad debt? Hoping to resolve this perennial question, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) has issued new guidelines intended to help providers make such distinctions. The guidelines offer criteria for charity care policies, methods for valuation, recording and disclosure of charity care and bad debt, and classification of receipts relating to charity care. As the group notes, to date much charity care …

You know, if this is what "non-profits" do, I'd hate to see the wrath a for-profit hospital would have visited upon the homeless, desperately-ill Carol Reyes. Steal the clothes off of her back? (Oh, wait, it seems someone did that, too.)

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You think your budget is tight?  Try being a New York state-based non-profit hospital. The state's 218 non-profit facilities lost a collective $95.4 million in 2005, putting them at 49th in the country for operating margins, according to the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). HANYS said that 56 percent of the state's non-profits are losing money, breaking even or running margins of less than 1 percent, a dismal situation given …

HMO operator Amerigroup has been fined $144 million by a federal jury, which concluded that the company deliberately avoided enrolling pregnant and high-risk patients in its Medicaid plan in an effort to pump up profits. The jury had originally fined the company $48 million, but the judgment was tripled under the federal False Claims Act. Next, the prosecutors plan to seek an additional $200 million in fines, in compensation for the 18,000 false claims Amerigroup filed in the …

Doctors, trial lawyers are your friends! Well...maybe not. But at least this time, a group of trial lawyers have embarked upon a doctor-friendly cause, that of lowering medical malpractice costs. The Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association has asked the state insurance commissioner to take a close look at premiums charged by the Connecticut Medical Insurance Company, arguing that the insurer is charging too much given its profits and reserves. The insurance firm made a $12.5 million profit …

Profits jumped an impressive 21 percent for Pennsylvania's outpatient surgical centers in 2005, according to data from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). Profits are up 9.5 percent since fiscal 2001, and 2 percent from 2004 to 2005, the state agency noted. These profits were driven in part by a large spike in volume of outpatient surgical and diagnostic procedures performed in the state, which climbed a whopping 34.5 percent last year. The state's 200-odd ASCs …

Who exactly is making money off of all these high healthcare costs we keep hearing about? Well, according to the Denver Business Journal, everyone. "From doctors to hospitals, drug companies to insurers, nearly everyone involved in the healthcare system is making money," the paper observes. So maybe the more important question is who's making the most. If the Journal is correct, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals are enjoying the highest profits.

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The Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) isn't happy with CMS decision to end the ban on specialty hospitals. Last week CMS announced that these hospitals could operate under the condition that they report their financial structures and physicians' financial ties to patients. Failing to do so would result in a $10,000 a day fine. The FAH thinks this isn't enough to ensure specialty hospitals play by …