Becker's ASC Review

52 HEALTHCARE NEWS 52 Kaiser plans $1.7B expansion By Ayla Ellison O akland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is expanding two hospitals and building two new medical offices, according to e Press-Enterprise. Kaiser is expanding Riverside (Calif.) Medical Center and making upgrades to patient rooms. e project will increase the hospital's beds from 226 to 298, a Kaiser spokesperson told e Press-Enterprise. e project, which will cost an estimated $735.4 million, is expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2027. e health system is expanding Moreno Valley (Calif.) Medical Center by 93,000 square feet. e project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023 and will cost an estimated $250.2 million, according to the report. Kaiser is also building medical offices. One is being built in Murrieta, Calif., and the other will be in Wildomar, Calif. e projects will cost a combined $241.3 million. e health system plans to spend $473.1 million on upgrades to other Kaiser facilities in Riverside County, according to the report. "Our community is growing and Kaiser Permanente is growing with it through $1.7 billion in expansion projects at four locations across Riverside County," said Sammy Totah, PharmD, senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente Riverside, according to the report. n 18% of Americans skipped medical appointments, prescriptions due to finances, poll finds By Rylee Wilson A lmost 1 in 5 Americans, 18 percent, have skipped a medical appointment or filling prescription drugs in the past six months because of financial strain, a new NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll published Sept. 16 found. These numbers were higher among those with lower incomes. Among the poll's respondents, 30 percent of individuals making less than $25,000 a year said they had skipped a medical appointment or prescription in the past six months. Of those who made $25,000 to $50,000 a year, 21 percent said they had foregone a medical visit or prescription in the past six months. This dropped to 16 percent for those who made over $50,000 a year. The poll, conducted from Sept. 29 to Aug. 1, surveyed 1,236 U.S. adults about personal family finances. Of the respondents, 37 percent said their family's finances have gotten worse in the past year, while 18 percent said they have gotten better, and 45 percent said their finances have stayed about the same. Around 1 in 10 people, 9 percent of the respondents, said they had delayed or skipped paying medical bills or insurance costs in the past six months to save money. n Walgreens to acquire specialty pharmacy for $1.3B By Paige Twenter A year after buying a majority share of specialty pharmacy services provider Shields Health Solutions, Walgreens will pay $1.37 billion for the remaining 30 percent stake. Shields partners with about 80 U.S. health systems, representing about 1,000 hospitals, to integrate specialty pharmacy services, according to a Sept. 20 news release from Walgreens Boots Alliance. In September 2021, Walgreens paid Shields $970 million for 71 percent of its shares. The total acquisition is expected to finalize by the end of 2022. "Our full acquisition of Shields will complete another major milestone as part of our consumer-centric healthcare strategy to drive sustainable long-term growth, and we are very pleased with our partnership and integration with Shields," Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Roz Brewer said in the release. "We can now make further progress on our strategy through Shields' integrated model, increasing our value to health systems, expanding access to payer partners and supporting improved outcomes and lower costs." n

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