Becker's ASC Review

53 HEALTHCARE NEWS CHS Aims to Shed at Least 20 More Hospitals to Reduce Debt Load By Ayla Ellison F ranklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has been on a hospital divestiture spree for the past year, and the company will continue selling off hospitals in 2018. To improve its finances and reduce its heavy debt load, CHS put a turnaround plan into place in 2016. As part of the initiative, the com- pany announced in early 2017 it intended to sell off 30 hospitals. CHS completed its 30-hospital divestiture plan Nov. 1. With the help of proceeds from the hospital sales, CHS brought down its long-term debt load to $13.9 billion in the third quarter of 2017 from $14.8 billion in the same period of 2016. To further reduce its debt, CHS plans to sell another group of hospitals with combined revenue of $2 billion. In a presentation to investors at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Jan. 10, CHS Chairman and CEO Wayne Smith discussed the hospital divestiture spree and how the company's strategy has changed in recent years. CHS previously focused on mergers and acqui- sitions for growth, and the company owned more than 200 hospitals at one point. However, the company is now focused on improving opera- tions at a much smaller number of facilities. CHS currently owns, operates or leases 127 hospitals in 22 states. Mr. Smith is not sure how many hospitals the company will own after the divestiture plan is completed, but the goal is to have "theoretically around 100 hospitals that are in significantly improved markets that have sustainability," he said at the conference. CHS ended the third quarter of 2017 with a net loss of $110 million on revenues of $3.67 billion. That's compared to the same period of 2016, when the company recorded a net loss of $79 million on rev- enues of $4.38 billion. n Cleveland Clinic Florida now Offers Concierge Medicine for $333 a Month By Ayla Ellison W eston-based Cleveland Clinic Florida is hoping to attract at least 300 patients to its new concierge medicine program in 2018, according to the Sun Sentinel. The program, which launched this month, offers patients a variety of services and benefits, including increased accessibility to their physi- cian, longer appointments, a customized preventive care and well- ness plan, and a dedicated phone number to access the concierge medicine healthcare team. Cleveland Clinic Florida Concierge Medicine, which costs $333 a month, does not accept any private insurance plans and does not participate in any government programs, including Medicare. Cleveland Clinic Florida President Wael Barsoum, MD, said the system hopes to enroll 300 patients in the program this year. "We will explore expanding the program when we reach capacity," he said in a state- ment to the Sun Sentinel. n Amazon, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway Launch new Healthcare Company: 6 Things to Know By Ayla Ellison A mazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are launching a new company aimed at cutting healthcare costs for their U.S. employees. Here are six things to know about the partnership. 1. In addition to reducing healthcare costs, the com- panies are aiming to improve employee satisfaction through the new venture. Amazon, Berkshire Hatha- way and JPMorgan are hoping the sheer size of each company and their complementary areas of expertise will help them tackle these issues. 2. "Our people want transparency, knowledge and control when it comes to managing their healthcare," said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan. "e three of our companies have extraordinary resources, and our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans." 3. e companies said the project, which is in the early planning stage, will initially focus on technology solutions. 4. "e healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. "Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare's burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort. Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner's mind and a long-term orientation." 5. e new venture will be jointly spearheaded by Todd Combs, an investment officer of Berkshire Hathaway; Marvelle Sullivan Berchtold, a managing director of JPMorgan Chase; and Beth Galetti, a senior vice president at Amazon. 6. "e ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," said Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett. "Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country's best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes." n

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