Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1115575
20 CFO / FINANCE Beth Israel Deaconess-Lahey Health merger is official By Leo Vartorella B oston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health in Burlington, Mass., officially merge March 1 to become Beth Israel Lahey Health, a system with 13 hospitals and 4,300 phy- sicians across Massachusetts, according to WBUR. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and state attorney gen- eral approved the merger under conditions, including limited annual price increases over the next seven years, maintaining $71.6 million in commitments to support healthcare services for low-income and un- derserved communities statewide, and good faith efforts to enroll all licensed providers in MassHealth — the state's Medicaid and children's health insurance program — within three years. Maura Healey, attorney general of Massachusetts, is negotiating with Beth Israel Lahey to appoint an independent monitor to track adherence to these conditions. "In five years time, if patients and their families tell us that we have made a difference in their lives, then we will have been wildly successful as far as I'm concerned," said Kevin Tabb, MD, president and CEO of Beth Israel Lahey Health. n 1 in 5 patients asked physician for a lower-cost medication in last year, study finds By Alia Paavola I n an effort to reduce prescription drug costs in the last year, near- ly one in every five patients asked their physician for a lower-cost medication, according to a report from the CDC released in March. For its report, the CDC analyzed National Health Interview Survey results from 2013-17. The report looked at three ways adults who were prescribed medicine tried to cut costs in 2017, including asking for a cheaper drug, not taking medicine as prescribed or seeking alternative therapies. Six key study findings: 1. In 2017, 19.5 percent of patients had asked their physician for a low- er-cost medication in the last 12 months to reduce prescription costs. 2. Uninsured adults were more than twice as likely than those with insur- ance to ask their physician for a cheaper medication. 3. Among adults surveyed, 11.4 percent did not take their medication as prescribed to ration the drug to reduce costs. 4. Nearly a third of uninsured patients didn't take their medication as pre- scribed in the last year. 5. Using an alternative therapy was the least common strategy to lower drug costs, with 5.4 percent of respondents choosing this method. About 13.9 percent of uninsured patients used alternative therapies. 6. Women were more likely than men to use each of these strategies. n 10 things to know about how seasonality affects hospital revenue By Morgan Haefner S easonality — or patterns in healthcare influ- enced by different seasons — has a material effect on hospitals' net revenue, according to data released by public accounting firm Crowe. Using its Crowe Revenue Cycle Analytics so- ware, the firm analyzed financial metrics for 605 hospitals in Medicaid expansion states and 409 hospitals in nonexpansion states. Metrics includ- ed accounts receivable, denials, bad debt, credit balance and cash to expected pay. Ten things to know about how seasonality affects healthcare revenue: 1. Average days in accounts receivable are highest in January at 51.3 days. 2. From January through March, initial denials are 7.8 percent higher than the annual average. 3. Outpatient revenue per case is 4 percent lower from January through March than the annual average. 4. From April through June, net revenue and vol- ume are stable; however, final denials and bad debt grow materially in June. is is particularly true for hospitals operating with a June 30 fiscal year-end. 5. Final denials are 18.5 percent higher than average in June. 6. In June, bad debt transfers are 8.9 percent higher than average. 7. From August through September, outpatient volume falls 6.4 percent. 8. From October through December, outpatient net revenue per case grows, and inpatient net revenue per case is 8.9 percent higher than the annual average. 9. From October through December, accounts re- ceivable days are at their lowest: 1.6 percent below the yearly average. 10. Bad debt transfers are 22.1 percent higher than average in October through December, most likely due to cleanup, according to Crowe. n