Health Beat: Health Care Spending Starting To Slow
by July 15, 2015 9:40 am 113 views
Editor’s note: Each Wednesday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Health Beat,” a round-up of health-related topics in our email newsletter, which you can sign up to receive daily for free here.
HEALTH CARE SPENDING STARTING TO SLOW, PwC SAYS
A historic recession, sluggish recovery, landmark reform law, innovative disruptors and cost-conscious purchasers have provided the crosswinds in a tumultuous decade for the U.S. health sector. Still, spending growth in the $2.9 trillion U.S. health economy is expected to slow in 2016 as compared to 2015, but it will outpace overall economic inflation, according to a new report.
In addition, the year ahead will see spending intensify with the entry of new high-cost specialty drugs into the market. Investments to guard personal health data from major cyber security breaches will also add to the overall cost of delivering care.
But moderating forces are expected to hold growth in check. The Affordable Care Act’s insurance excise “Cadillac tax,” set to begin in 2018, is already influencing employer’s benefit design.
Those are just a few of the observations in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) “Behind the Numbers” 2016 report on medical cost trends.
NURSES LARGEST PROFESSIONAL GROUP IN HEALTHCARE, ANESTHESIOLOGISTS TOP EARNERS
In May 2014, there were 11.8 million workers employed in healthcare practitioner, technical, and support occupations, according to The Economics Daily, or TED blog (http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Among those, some 2.7 million registered nurses represent the largest occupation in the healthcare field, while anesthesiologists earned the most with an average annual wage of $246,320. Among healthcare support occupations in May 2014, there were 1.4 million nursing assistants. The average annual wage for nursing assistants was $26,250. Also in this group, home health aides had 799,080 workers making about $10.777 per hour, or $22,400 a year.
Healthcare practitioners were also among the highest paid healthcare occupations. In addition to anesthesiologists, those earning an average annual wage over $200,000 included surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and orthodontists.
CHI ST. VINCENT IN EXPANSION MODE
CHI St. Vincent has been in an expansion mode of late. The Catholic-based hospital group has been affiliating and acquiring with facilities in Little Rock, Morrilton, Conway, and Hot Springs. Read more at this link.
HOSPITALS SAY PRIVATE OPTION CUTS CHARITY CARE BY HALF, OPPONENTS CITE LONG-TERM CONCERNS
The number of uninsured patients treated by Arkansas hospitals for inpatient care decreased 48.7% from 2013 to 2014, the Arkansas Hospital Association reported late last week. Across all hospital patient care settings, uncompensated care among responding hospitals decreased by $149 million, or 55.1%. Hospital leaders say the private option is largely credited with the financial improvement, but critics of the Arkansas plan say the turnaround doesn’t alleviate their long-term concerns about sustaining the PO’s costs. Read more here.
NEW HEALTHCARE MICROSITES LAUNCHED
Talk Business & Politics is proud to announce the launch of a new microsite dedicated to in-depth industry news in the healthcare field.
The Healthcare site, led in coverage by Steve Brawner, focuses on a variety of news including health policy, insurance, doctors, hospitals, and research at the local, state and national levels. It also includes links to resources and reports as well as opinion columns and video presentations of significance to the field.
“This new microsite will compliment our existing sites that cover Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing, Tourism and Energy,” said TB&P Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock.