Becker's Hospital Review

146 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Fierce flu season to buoy for-profit hospital operator results: 7 things to know By Kelly Gooch F or-profit hospital operators are poised to benefit financially from the particu- larly tough 2017-18 flu season as more patients seek care related to the illness, ac- cording to a Reuters report. Here are seven things to know. 1. e current flu season has been notably severe, with 21,279 laboratory-confirmed flu-associated hospitalizations and 97 flu-re- lated pediatric deaths reported by the CDC as of Feb. 23. 2. Due to this influx of flu-related illness, for-profit hospital operators Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Brentwood, Tenn.- based LifePoint Health in recent post-earn- ings calls reported a rise in patient admis- sions, according to the report. 3. On a same-facility basis, Tenet saw a 6.1 percent year-over-year increase in patient revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017, with adjusted admissions rising 1.3 percent. Ac- cording to Reuters, Tenet also projected high- er full-year profit and revenue, and said it added 20 more basis points to patient admis- sions volumes in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to the current flu season. 4. LifePoint Health reported lower patient volume in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, with admissions, inpatient surgeries, outpatient surgeries and emergency room visits all falling year over year. e for-profit hospital operator did not project admissions for the quarter ending March 31, according to the report. However, its COO, David Dill, said in late February: "We've seen through the first six weeks of the year many of our volume indicators, including admissions, adjusted admissions, emergency room volumes turn positive." 5. Evercore ISI analyst Michael Newshel told Reuters an upward trend in patient admis- sions at hospitals due to this flu season is like- ly to be more noticeable in the first quarter of 2018. 6. Analysts project for-profit hospital opera- tors could see additional revenue as incoming patients receive tests and treatment for other ailments, according to the report. 7. Reuters reports CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance and other drugstore operators are also expected to benefit as more people get flu shots and buy over-the-counter cold medicines. n Why chance alone may identify HAC program's low-performing hospitals By Megan Knowles C hance may significantly contribute to a hospital's penalty status in the CMS' Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduc- tion Program, according to a study published in Journal for Healthcare Quality. The study authors analyzed data from the CMS Hospital Com- pare website to simulate the consistency of hospitals' scores and how penalties were assigned under repeated measurement, with no change in each hospital's underlying quality. The simulation found only around 40 percent of the 768 hospitals subject to the program's payment penalty last year had scores that were statistically different from the threshold penalty score. "In other words, the majority of hospitals receiving a HAC pen- alty have performance indistinguishable from those that are not being penalized," Nancy Foster, American Hospital Association vice president for quality and patient safety policy, wrote in a blog post. The proportion of hospitals statistically different from the thresh- old showed significant variation when examining several factors, including the hospital's ownership status, teaching status and bed size. The study also found that due only to chance, 18 per- cent of penalized hospitals would escape penalty on repeated measurement. The study authors suggested policymakers consider alterations to the HAC-RP to improve its reliability. n How Rush hospital is working to tackle Chicago's 'death gap' By Megan Knowles C hicago-based Rush University Medical Cen- ter invested $1 million to help launch the Chicago Neighborhood Rebuild pilot pro- gram, which offers job training for young people in some of the city's most violent police districts, ac- cording to Chicago. The investment is part of the health system's new "anchor strategy," which it adopted in July 2016. The initiative aims to generate employment opportuni- ties for 200 young people and rehabilitate 50 vacant homes in the city's West Side neighborhoods. As part of the initiative, Rush also gathered an "an- chor committee" to improve health disparities be- tween the city's neighborhoods, including nine Chi- cago-area hospitals and health systems. Although the health system's efforts are still in their early stages, Rush aims to direct 4 percent of their addressable spend (products or services that can be supplied by a new vendor) to West Side busi- nesses by the end of June and have 16 percent of new hires come from West Side neighborhoods. Additionally, Rush is making efforts to give employ- ees paid time off to volunteer with local charity or- ganizations. n

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