Becker's Hospital Review

15 CFO / FINANCE Optum expects to add 10,000 physicians this year By Morgan Haefner O ptumCare, the part of UnitedHealth Group that provides direct patient care, plans on adding thousands of physicians in 2021, Unit- edHealth's CEO said during a Jan. 20 earnings call. As of Jan. 20, OptumCare employs or is affiliated with 50,000 physicians and 1,400 clinics. Optum- Care expects its employed and affiliated physicians will grow by at least 10,000 during 2021, according to UnitedHealth CEO David Wichmann. "This work of building local, physician-led systems of care continues to be central to our mission and is accelerating with notable progress in the North- east, Pacific Northwest and Southern California in 2020," Mr. Wichmann said. The statement comes as UnitedHealth posted a profit of $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, down about 38 percent from $3.5 billion in the same period of 2019. In its Jan. 20 financial re- lease, UnitedHealth said the declines were expect- ed as care patterns normalized and costs related to COVID-19 care grew. n Sutter Health cuts 200 jobs By Alia Paavola S acramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health plans to cut 200 nonclinical positions as part of a restructuring process, ac- cording to a Jan. 28 report from The Sacramento Bee. Sutter said that it has targeted 200 jobs to eliminate, but fewer people may be laid off because some will be redeployed to dif- ferent departments. The health system said the workforce reduction was made to align resources and become more efficient. Sutter also signaled that more cuts may occur this year. "Our work will continue into 2021 as we look at ways to eliminate variation, align resources and become much more efficient with our indirect costs so we can best serve our patients and com- munities," Sutter Health told The Sacramento Bee. "This includes department restructures, as well as closing some programs or reducing certain services, particularly where patient demand has been declining." Sutter also said it must make "difficult but important decisions" to address the financial challenges attributed to COVID-19 and recognize shifts in patient demands. n 'We don't know when the volumes will return': Nemours Children's targets $100M in cost-cutting By Alia Paavola J acksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Children's Health System will implement a $100 million cost-cutting plan and reduce its workforce by 3 percent to 4 percent, according to a Jan. 14 Orlando Sentinel report. The health system said a decrease in patient volumes in the fourth quarter of 2020 contributed to its decision. "The hard truths of this pandemic remain that pediatric volumes have not returned to pre-pandemic levels and we don't know when the volumes will return," Nemours Children's told the Or- lando Sentinel. "But we know when they do, they will look differ- ent from today." Some of the cost-cutting measures will include reducing spend- ing on travel, consulting and purchased services; standardizing processes to become more efficient; deferring capital projects; and eliminating merit raises for 2021. Nemours said it didn't furlough employees last spring and im- plemented a redeployment program to ensure its workers had hours. However, Nemours said it "must work to right-size opera- tions to these new expected patient volumes." n MedPAC to recommend 2% payment boost for hospitals next year By Alia Paavola T he Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted Jan. 14 to recommend a 2 percent raise in Medicare payments for hospitals next year. The commission said it wants to give the payment boost to both acute care and long-term care hos- pitals. The 2 percent payment increase will result in about a $750 million to $2 billion increase in acute- care hospital spending for Medicare and about $50 million for long-term care hospitals. MedPAC also plans to recommend no change to the payment rate for physicians in 2022 and a 5 percent decrease for home health firms and inpa- tient rehabilitation centers. Although MedPAC will recommend the payment changes, Congress is not required to implement the recommendations. n

• Cover