Healthcare wins and losses in spending plan
Hello! I’m Ron Southwick, senior editor of Chief Healthcare Executive?. With such a busy news cycle, we had to do one more newsletter before the end of the year. We hope you enjoy the holidays with family and friends. But if you’re at a gathering that’s getting a little stressful and want to look busy for a few minutes, I’m here to help. Read on.
Spending plan snubs some health priorities
Congress barely managed to avoid a government shutdown early Saturday morning. Lawmakers passed a spending plan to fund the government into March, and President Biden signed it.
But the short-term plan short-changed some health priorities, advocacy groups say.?
On the upside, Congress prevented the expiration of waivers for telehealth and hospital-at-home programs, which were set to lapse Dec. 31. But instead of a multi-year extension, telehealth programs were only extended through the end of March 2025.
That was a bit of a surprise, since an earlier version of the spending plan would’ve extended telehealth programs for two years. The initial plan also included a five-year extension for hospital-at-home programs.
Physicians are especially upset that Congress didn’t prevent planned cuts in Medicare payments to physicians, or at least reduce the size of the cuts.?
The frustration was amplified by the fact that an earlier version of the spending plan would have blocked most of the cuts. But that package unraveled when President-elect Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the plan.?
Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the MGMA , said the final spending plan “represents a huge congressional failure.”
Another sore point for healthcare groups: Congress didn’t tackle prior authorization reform.
Nemours plans expansions of hospitals
Nemours Children’s Health is undertaking some ambitious plans to expand its hospital campuses in Florida and Delaware. The system is planning to invest $430 million into projects on both campuses.
We talked with R. Lawrence Moss, MD, FACS, FAAP , president and chief executive officer of Nemours Children’s Health, about the ambitious projects. Moss said the projects are in “a larger context of a broader commitment to child health.”
“I want people to understand these investments in the larger context of what we like to call the ‘whole child health’ model, and Nemours’ commitment to the overall health of every child,” he says.
Check out the plans and some very interesting perspectives from the leader of the organization.
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Advocate Health Care’s $1B plan in Chicago
Speaking of bold projects, Advocate Health Care has launched a $1 billion plan to improve health outcomes in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood.
Advocate is planning to build a host of outpatient clinics throughout the neighborhood. The system is also planning to build a new hospital in the South Side, which will replace a facility that’s over 100 years old.
Life expectancy in the South Side is about 30 years shorter than in the city’s more affluent North Side, and system officials say they are aiming to close disparities in outcomes.
The Ascension cyberattack’s impact
Earlier this year, the Ascension health systems suffered a cyberattack that caused serious disruptions.
Some non-emergency surgeries were postponed, and ambulances had to be diverted from some hospitals.
Ascension recently said that the breach affected nearly 5.6 million people, making it one of the largest cyberattacks of a hospital system on record.?
The health system is sending notices to those affected and is offering credit monitoring and theft recovery services.?
For health systems and hospitals looking to improve their cybersecurity, please check out our recent cybersecurity forum with experts from the American Hospital Association , HIMSS , and the Providence health system. The link below offers a summary, but the really good stuff can be found in the video, which runs just a little over 20 minutes. There are three other videos in the series, each about 15 minutes, and the discussions are well worth the time.
Big number: $4.9 trillion
That’s the total healthcare spending in the U.S. in 2023, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That’s a 7.5% increase over the previous year.?
Coming up
Over the next week, we’ll be publishing stories looking at our most well-read stories of the year, and more predictions for what to expect in the healthcare industry in 2025. Thanks for reading. Chief Healthcare Executive? has enjoyed substantial growth in readership over the past year, so we are very thankful and excited about the coming year.?
Our thoughts are with those working over the holidays, since hospitals don’t close. Enjoy the holidays, whenever you can, and have a happy and healthy new year.?