Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1455714
17 CFO / FINANCE Geisinger opens hospital as part of joint venture with Highmark Health By Marissa Plescia G eisinger Medical Center Muncy (Pa.) opened to the public Jan. 10 as part of a joint venture be- tween Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and Pitts- burgh-based Highmark Health. The full-service 120,000-square-foot hospital is three stories, according to a Jan. 10 news release from Geisinger. It has an emergency room, clinical decision unit, intensive care unit, surgical suites and primary and specialty care areas. Each of the 20 inpatient rooms also has a smart TV. Additionally, the hospital includes a multispecialty clin- ic for adult and pediatric primary care, orthopedics, car- diology, ophthalmology, women's health services and several other services. "We couldn't be more excited to officially welcome patients to this state-of-the-art new hospital in Mun- cy," said Tammy Anderer, chief administrative officer of Geisinger's north-central region. "This is an exciting milestone for Geisinger, Highmark Health and the com- munity as members will no longer have to travel far for world-class care — they can get it right here in Muncy. This historic project will make a significant difference in the care our neighbors receive." n Median cost for hospitalized COVID-19 patients more than $11K, study finds By Marissa Plescia T he median total cost of treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 2020 was $11,267, and the medi- an cost per day was $1,772, according to a study pub- lished in Advances in Therapy. The median length of stay was six days. The study examined patient admissions and discharge data from April 2020 to December 2020 in the Premier Healthcare Database. From there, researchers estimated inpatient costs and lengths of stay. For intensive care unit patients, the median total cost was $13,443 and the median cost per day was $2,902. The medi- an length of stay was five days. Factors that affected cost, length of stay and risk of death were age, medical conditions, race, level of care and discharge to long-term care facilities. Overall average hospitalization costs decreased by 26 percent from April 2020 to December 2020, and the aver- age length of stay decreased from 13 to 10 days during the same period. n CMS sends 335 hospitals price disclosure violation warnings By Ayla Ellison C MS has issued warnings to more than 300 hospitals for violations of rules requiring them to disclose prices, but the agency hasn't penalized hospitals for noncompli- ance, according to a January report in The Wall Street Journal. Federal rules requiring hospitals to make prices public took effect Jan. 1, 2021. More than a year later, some hospitals and health systems have posted incomplete data and others have posted nothing at all. As of December 2021, CMS had issued noncompliance notic- es to approximately 335 hospitals and asked 98 hospitals to submit plans for how and when they would comply with the federal rules, according to the Journal. Some hospital leaders argue that the rules, which require hospitals to post prices negotiated with private insurers, put them at a competitive disadvantage. CMS is providing hospitals with technical help and informa- tion to boost compliance with the rules. The maximum pen- alty for noncompliance is $2 million. CMS hasn't disclosed when it will begin penalizing hospitals. n IU Health freezes prices to lower healthcare costs By Marissa Plescia B loomington-based Indiana University Health will freeze its prices for the next four years to bring its costs in line with the national average, the Indy Star reported Dec. 21, 2021. In 2016-18, IU Health's prices were 33 percent higher than the national average, a 2020 Rand study found. The health system began the price freeze from 2020- 21, creating a $100 million reduction in many outpa- tient services in 2021. In 2019, prices increased by 2.4 percent, according to the newspaper. The plan, which was announced at a public forum Dec. 16, 2021, will save Indiana healthcare con- sumers more than $1 billion, IU Health officials said, according to the Star. n