Becker's Hospital Review

18 CFO / FINANCE Saint Alphonsus Health CEO on price transparency: 'We do not view patients as consumers or shoppers' By Morgan Haefner O dette Bolano, president and CEO of Boise, Idaho-based Saint Alphonsus Health System, addressed CMS' new price transparency rule in an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman. e rule, which took effect Jan. 1, requires hospitals to publish their standard charges online. ey must present the information in a machine-readable format that can be easily imported into a computer system and update the information at least annually. In her op-ed, Ms. Bolano said that as a Catholic healthcare provider, Saint Alphon- sus Health is "rooted in the conviction that mission-driven healthcare is a ministry of healing and is not in the business of selling a service or commodity." She continued: "Buying healthcare is much more complicated than buying services or large items such as a car or home. It is a much deeper personal experience and decisions have lifelong consequences, not only for the individual, but also for family and loved ones. In Catholic healthcare, our focus is on the dignity of the patient, and we do not view pa- tients as 'consumers or shoppers.'" While Ms. Bolano said using a price estimator is a good first step for patients seeking more infor- mation on healthcare costs, she recommended patients call their insurance provider or hospital to get more personalized estimates. n Vermont hospital backtracks on questionable bills By Ayla Ellison R oughly 1,900 patients received bills from University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington in December for procedures dating back to 2017, according to WCAX. The bills were erroneously sent to the patients, who had already paid in full for their procedures. "We're very sorry that they received a bill that goes back that far," Rick Vincent, senior vice president and CFO of UVM Medical Center, told WCAX. "That certainly wasn't our intent. Our intent was actually to get money into the hands of patients." Due to an internal billing error between the hospital and health insurer MVP Health Care, which was discovered in 2017, many patients overpaid the hospital. After MVP fixed the is- sue, the hospital reprocessed claims based on MVP's data. "We assumed that the only thing that we were actually doing was refunding patients," Mr. Vincent told WCAX. About 2,700 patients received refunds. How- ever, 1,900 received bills they were previously told were paid in full. Mr. Vincent said patients will not have to pay the new bills. He advised patients to ignore the bills and to call the hospital's billing de- partment with any questions. n Sanford Health grows to $5B+ system after finalizing merger By Alyssa Rege S anford Health completed its merger with the nationwide senior care services provider Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan So- ciety, the health system announced Jan. 2. The organizations, both based in Sioux Falls, S.D., went public with plans to merge in June. With the completion of the merger, Sanford Health now employs nearly 50,000 individuals and maintains more than $5 billion in annual revenue. "We know that bringing these two organizations under one umbrella has many benefits for those we serve. Being on the forefront of the changing healthcare landscape made this historic opportunity a re- ality," Kelby Krabbenhoft, Sanford Health president and CEO, said in a statement. The CEO of Good Samaritan will remain in his position and join San- ford Health's corporate leadership team. n Tenet sells 3 hospitals, exits Chicago market By Ayla Ellison D allas-based Tenet Healthcare completed the sale of its three remaining Chicago-area hospitals Jan. 29 . In July, Tenet entered into a definitive agreement to sell its three remaining hospi- tals in the Chicago area: Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago; Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill.; and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Ill. Tenet sold the three hospitals to Pipeline Health, a privately held hospital owner- ship and management company based in Los Angeles. n

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