Becker's Hospital Review

32 POPULATION HEALTH 32 CEO/STRATEGY son said. "You feel good about it even if you don't participate." While it's easier to showcase commu- nity involvement opportunities, not all aspects of a place can be engineered. Take OrthoIndy's market, for example. "Indianapolis is a great city," Mr. Dicke said. "We have a good living environment. We have the Costcos and the Cheesecake Fac- tories and nothing can be denied there, but it comes down to … well, do I want to live with the weather?" Until CEOs have a grasp on that one, Dr. Scopelliti suggested giving recruits a North Face gi certificate as a signing bonus and calling it a day. n True or false? 6 statements on healthcare trends, verified by PwC By Morgan Haefner P wC's Health Research Institute released its annual report on trends that are most and least likely to affect the healthcare industry in 2020. For its report, HRI surveyed 300 provider executives, 100 payer executives, and 100 pharmaceutical and life sciences executives on current obstacles and opportunities in the industry. HRI also surveyed 3,500 adults for their perspective on consumer experi- ence in healthcare. Through its analysis, HRI verified whether six statements about current healthcare trends are true or false: 1. "Medical cost trend is expected to decrease in 2020." False. HRI projects a 6 percent medical cost trend for 2020, higher than the previous three years. 2. "Industry should expect the HHS to publish less regulation than usual next year." True. HRI has found regulatory action slows 12 months before a presidential election. 3. "Across all industries, the biggest obstacle to monetizing data is lack of analytical talent." False. Poor data reliability is the biggest issue, according to 34 percent of executives, while 30 percent of leaders cited lack of analytical talent as a barrier. 4. "The [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel- opment] wants to profoundly change the way member na- tions tax digital business activity." True. OECD published a proposal in October 2019 that would drastically alter how digital business activity is taxed. If the provisions are adopted, the changes would significantly affect global healthcare companies. 5. "Healthcare consumers by and large believe healthcare deals activity benefits them." False. HRI found consumers have a mostly neutral view on whether healthcare deals will lower their costs and improve quality. 6. "Promoting diversity in leadership is a workforce priority for most healthcare organizations in 2020." False. When surveyed by HRI, only 18 percent of healthcare executives said promoting diversity in leadership is a priority for 2020. n Here's what bipartisan healthcare reform could look like: 5 notes By Emily Rappleye A Washington, D.C., think tank believes it may have cracked the code to bipartisan health- care reform. The Bipartisan Policy Center issued a report in early February after convening policy experts, actuaries, healthcare leaders and providers, state officials, and consumer organizations. The path to reform focus- es on building on today's system, a path the group chose based on voter preference. BPC conducted a poll that showed most voters preferred building on the current system over repealing the ACA or implementing a single-payer plan. The group also felt it was important to avoid major disruptions to patient care. Here are five highlights of what the plan entails: 1. Creating a reinsurance program to help pay- ers offset the costs of covering high-cost patients. Under the plan, this program would be funded by a $30 billion to $60 billion appropriation from the federal government and would be administered by states. 2. Restoring cost-sharing reduction payments, which were originally part of the ACA. These pay- ments go to payers for covering the cost-sharing portion of plans for people who earn less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level. 3. Repealing the penalty associated with the employer mandate to provide employees health insurance. This is intended to reduce administrative and financial burdens on employers. 4. Cap hospital charges in noncompetitive mar- kets. Hospitals in highly consolidated markets would have the opportunity to negotiate with the Federal Trade Commission to reduce consolida- tion. Those that opt out of negotiation would have their charges to private insurers capped. 5. Creating a Cadillac tax alternative. Instead of trying to tax high-cost employer-sponsored health plans, the proposal suggests limiting income-tax exclusions for expensive employer plans bought by people with higher incomes. n

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