Budgeting

MaineGeneral Health's cutting-edge new hospital regionalizes healthcare for the area.

With the closing of 2013 and arrival of 2014, it is a time to look ahead at a few of the industry trends we can expect in the upcoming 12 months.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services intends to finalize the Medicaid Federal Upper payment Limits (FULs) for multiple source drugs in July 2014. This will mean less drug price variance for state Medicaid programs.

Since undocumented immigrants can't participate in the healthcare insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act, millions of foreign-born residents will be excluded, leaving hospitals to continue to pick up the cost of their care.

By noting potential industry headwinds in credit rating agencies' median reports, hospitals can attempt to stay one step ahead of the ever-changing landscape when trying to navigate these difficult times.

Hospitals are cutting their operating costs in order to adjust to reduced revenues as Medicare tightens payments.

Eliminating a traditional management exercise as old as the budget may seem risky to hospital CFOs, but many businesses have done just that. Some say using a 19th-century tool to manage a 21st-century organization makes little sense.

In this video provided by ASQ, Eric Hayler, a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, discusses a successful manufacturing and service application of the Lean process, a popular methodology in healthcare which aims to minimize waste and optimize value.

Florida's Baptist Health has devised a more efficient way to manage their medical devices and share risk, and it's helping them place real controls on capital costs.

Due to its substantial impact on a hospital’s bottom line, Tony Stajduhar, president of the Permanent Physician Recruitment Division at recruitment firm Jackson & Coker, believes physician recruitment should always be a top-five concern for hospital administrators -- something that he says is not always the case.