Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1058375
12 CFO / FINANCE 24 cities with higher-than-average healthcare prices By Morgan Haefner O verall healthcare prices in Anchorage, Alaska and San Jose, Calif., are 65 percent above the national average, according to the Health Care Cost Institute. HCCI's Healthy Market Index considered more than 1.78 billion commercial claims and compared the average price paid for the same healthcare service across 112 U.S. cities. e report features price level benchmarks from 2012-16. HCCI found healthcare prices were below the national average in 86 of the 112 cities in- cluded in its index. At 33 percent below the national average, Baltimore had the lowest overall healthcare price level in 2016. In An- chorage, prices were nearly 2.5 times higher than in Baltimore. Here are the 24 cities with overall price levels above the national average in 2016: 1. Anchorage, Alaska — 65 percent above the national average 2. San Jose, Calif. — 65 percent above 3. San Francisco — 49 percent above 4. Milwaukee — 17 percent above 5. Green Bay, Wis. — 14 percent above 6. San Diego — 12 percent above 7. Los Angeles — 11 percent above 8. Trenton, N.J. — 10 percent above 9. New York City — 10 percent above 10. Portland, Ore. — 7 percent above 11. Seattle — 7 percent above 12. Manchester, N.H. — 7 percent above 13. Oxnard, Calif. — 7 percent above 14. Fort Collins, Colo. — 7 percent above 15. New Haven, Conn. — 7 percent above 16. Charlotte, N.C. — 7 percent above 17. Dallas — 5 percent above 18. Spokane, Wash. — 5 percent above 19. Minneapolis — 4 percent above 20. Richmond, Va. — 3 percent above 21. Boston — 3 percent above 22. Bridgeport, Conn. — 3 percent above 23. Denver — 3 percent above 24. Philadelphia — 2 percent above n HCA's profit climbs to $759M in Q3 By Ayla Ellison N ashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare saw reve- nues and net income rise year over year in the third quarter of 2018. HCA said revenues increased 7.1 percent year over year to $11.5 billion in the third quarter of this year. The company attributed the revenue growth in part to high- er patient volumes. HCA also saw same-facility admis- sions increase 3.1 percent year over year. The company's earnings took a $140 million hit from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the third quarter of 2017, and Hurricane Florence affected HCA's finances in the third quarter of this year. "We estimate that we had an approximately $9 million impact associated with Florence in this quarter," Wil- liam Rutherford, HCA's executive vice president and CFO, said on an earnings call Oct. 30. The company's expenses totaled $9.4 billion in the third quarter of this year, up from $8.9 billion in the same period of 2017. After factoring in nonoperating income, one-time charges, a tax benefit of $132 million and gains of $6 million from facility sales, HCA ended the third quarter of 2018 with a $759 million profit. That's compared to the third quarter of 2017, when the company recorded a profit of $426 million. n Einstein Healthcare CFO: My heart attack made me 'reevaluate my work-life balance' By Emily Rappleye A heart attack two years ago gave Gerry Blaney, CFO of Philadelphia-based Einstein Healthcare Network, a dose of perspective on work-life balance. "The irony that the CFO of a large healthcare network almost lost his life to a heart attack is not lost on me, and I'm fortu- nate to be alive today," Mr. Blaney wrote for The Phildelphia Inquirer. "My heart attack helped put things in perspective, re-evaluate my work-life balance and commitment to healthy eating and exercising regularly." Mr. Blaney has been an employee at Einstein Healthcare for three decades. During budget season in April 2016, he was busy and had temporarily abandoned some of his healthy habits. He wasn't eating well or exercising consistently, and he often worked overtime. When he started feeling heart at- tack symptoms at dinner one night with his family, Mr. Blaney drove to the hospital. After an initial catheterization, bypass surgery and a few weeks of recovery, Mr. Blaney realized he needed to make a stronger commitment to health and work-life balance, he wrote. While this was already a priority for the health system, he made a point to encourage balance among his employees. n