Accounting & Financial Management

Like healthcare facilities across the country, Louisiana's hospitals must confront formidable financial challenges as care delivery models evolve and reimbursement mechanisms change.

The hospital merger wave may have slowed down a bit, but for health systems facing financial challenges and looking to evolve clinically, it's still an option for consideration.

Flexing its anti-kickback muscles, the federal government is clamping down hard on some profit-focused patient referral and healthcare joint venture practices.

Though over 30 states have passed or proposed legislation to increase healthcare price transparency, and released median prices for specific services, many supporters of price transparency have pushed for more detailed data.

Commercial insurers inaccurately process about 20 percent of claims filed by medical practices. It's an industry standard that has weathered the test of time -- though not in a good way.

Improving the health of at-risk, vulnerable and chronically sick populations remains a massive challenge for healthcare organizations' financial administrators. In order to properly manage complex populations, comprehensive and reliable data on patient health and demographics are required.

A strong central leadership model is the primary differentiator between successful healthcare cost improvement initiatives and ineffective ones. This principle has three accompanying elements required to establish and manage a successful cost improvement program.

Significant inpatient pricing variation between hospitals in the state of Washington is "putting some consumers at financial risk," according to a recent study by the Washington Health Alliance. But the state's hospitals are questioning the report's conclusions, claiming that price variation should not be surprising.

Variations on traditional group health insurance via insurer-administered self-funding remain the norm for many large employers. But some health systems are considering alternatives in the face of high costs, new regulations and demand for more choice.

More than ever before, physicians and managers are feeling the stress of running a practice. Though most medical schools do not teach business principles to physicians in residency, it is just as important to invest in education about the business side of medical practice as in the clinical aspects.