Budgeting
Primary care physicians see an average pay increase of only 1.4%, while specialists experience an even smaller increase of 1%.
House GOP members are demanding cuts of at least $1.5 billion in federal spending, but Senate Republicans are divided.
Declining physician payments and rising operational costs place emergency medicine at financial risk, RAND finds.
While the current climate is putting a "chill" on healthcare decision-making, hospital volumes and operating margins remain steady.
Frederick Health Hospital and Palomar Health had weaker balance sheets and little cushion for added stress, says Fitch.
CMS projects $750 million in savings from ending the four models early, but stopped short of saying where the savings would occur.
Providers have partially offset a lower patient collection rate by improving POS collections and collection on bad debt.
Sequestration and bad debt reimbursement continue to place added pressure on revenues.
The company's new CFO says Humana needs to become better at predicting upcoming industry headwinds.
CVS Health logs $1.6 billion in Q4 profit, down from $2 billion last year.