Going after Big Hospital

[hyperalgesia]

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Congress Should Close the Big Hospitals Tax Loophole | National Review

Large nonprofit hospital networks are leveraging huge subsidies for financial gains and political advantage.

www.nationalreview.com

 

[SpineandWine]

It’s interesting because lot of hospitals are nearing bankruptcy. Lot of them do not refuse Medicaid for services and provide service line that are money losers
It’ll likely effect rural places the most

 

[cowboydoc]

Could someone please get Drusso a clean set of scrub pants?

 

[SSdoc33]

Opinion piece from national review

 

[au bon pain]

The reality is that some “non-profit” hospitals/systems are wildly out of control with this sh it. But the flip-side is that non-profit hospitals serve as close to a safety net as we have in this country for the under/uninsured/vulnerable and rural Americans (in a way that a private practice cannot).

Seems like a good answer to the “non-profit” hospital question could involve the following: removing CON rules to allow for increased hospital competition, caps on administrator : physician ratios (and admin compensation), mandating a proportional amount of charity care, allowing physician-owned and run hospitals, and prohibiting any sort of private-equity or publicly-traded company to have any ownership interest of any kind in the facility or any physician-level services.

 

[drusso]

The reality is that some “non-profit” hospitals/systems are wildly out of control with this sh it. But the flip-side is that non-profit hospitals serve as close to a safety net as we have in this country for the under/uninsured/vulnerable and rural Americans (in a way that a private practice cannot).

Seems like a good answer to the “non-profit” hospital question could involve the following: removing CON rules to allow for increased hospital competition, caps on administrator : physician ratios (and admin compensation), mandating a proportional amount of charity care, allowing physician-owned and run hospitals, and prohibiting any sort of private-equity or publicly-traded company to have any ownership interest of any kind in the facility or any physician-level services.

Opinion: Striking A New Bargain for Oregon Hospital Community Benefit Programs | The Lund Report

www.thelundreport.org

"Another option would be replacing the Affordable Care Act community benefit requirements with an annual, quantitative standard equal to the amount they would pay in taxes without a tax exemption. If an institution did not meet the standard, it would have to pay taxes equal to the shortfall. Proponents of this solution maintain that this would be fairer and easier because under the current situation there remains significant variation in the amount of community benefits provided and it is impossible to ascertain if every nonprofit hospital is doing enough to justify its tax-exempt status."

 

[mille125]

The large hospitals in my area do provide a benefit but they also very aggressively go after poor people for very inflated medical debt.

One of my patients owed $10000 for an ER visit, some labs, and an MRI. Its crazy.

 

[mille125]

The ideas from au bon pain and drrusso are solid ones.

 

[hyperalgesia]

The large hospitals in my area do provide a benefit but they also very aggressively go after poor people for very inflated medical debt.

One of my patients owed $10000 for an ER visit, some labs, and an MRI. Its crazy.

I would like to see a state law that mandates all healthcare services must be billed at the same rate as their lowest negotiated rate.

In this case, for example, Medicare probably pays a reasonable fee for the service provided.

It's a fallacy that American healthcare itself is unaffordable.

 

[au bon pain]

Opinion: Striking A New Bargain for Oregon Hospital Community Benefit Programs | The Lund Report

www.thelundreport.org

"Another option would be replacing the Affordable Care Act community benefit requirements with an annual, quantitative standard equal to the amount they would pay in taxes without a tax exemption. If an institution did not meet the standard, it would have to pay taxes equal to the shortfall. Proponents of this solution maintain that this would be fairer and easier because under the current situation there remains significant variation in the amount of community benefits provided and it is impossible to ascertain if every nonprofit hospital is doing enough to justify its tax-exempt status."

Never heard of the author, but his premise isn’t unreasonable as part of a larger solution.

 

[mille125]

I would like to see a state law that mandates all healthcare services must be billed at the same rate as their lowest negotiated rate.

In this case, for example, Medicare probably pays a reasonable fee for the service provided.

It's a fallacy that American healthcare itself is unaffordable.

I hear you but I would argue that Medicare rates in many times are not reasonable. For people who take Medicaid that would be an immediate closure of all private practices. Possibly 100% Medicare as well. Medicare rates used to be accepted because of ease of scheduling. That is no longer the case.

Something has to be done with our practice expenses and the clawbacks. We should not be wedged between Big Govt and Big Business.