I-Team In-Depth

Hospitals Bill More Than $1 Billion In Facility Fees Over Two Years

By |

Connecticut consumers were billed for more than $1 billion in facility fees for outpatient services in 2015 and 2016, documents filed with the state Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) show. Twenty-two of Connecticut’s 30 hospitals charged these fees, bringing in $600.7 million in 2015 and another $488.8 million in 2016, according to an analysis by Conn. Health I-Team. The state’s two largest hospital systems, Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare, accounted for almost half of the total facility fee revenue in 2016. Yale and its four hospitals billed $144.3 million; Hartford and its five hospitals, $80.9 million.

I-Team In-Depth

Operating Profits Drop At State Hospitals: New Report

By |

Connecticut’s acute-care hospitals saw gains from their operations tumble 35 percent in the last fiscal year, with seven of 29 hospitals reporting operating losses, according to a new state report. While hospitals still ended the year with $597 million in profits overall, the report by the state Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) raises concerns that non-operating revenue, such as income from investments, was masking the decline in operating revenue. “While hospitals’ operational financial performance weakened in FY 2013, they continued to generate significant non-operating gains, helping to keep overall hospital financial performance strong,” the report says. “However, a robust financial picture should rely more on patient and other operating revenues, and not on a less than reliable income source, such as investment performance.”

Hospitals’ profits from operations dropped to $333.6 million, from $513.5 million in the 2012 fiscal year. At the same time, hospitals earned $70 million more from investments, charitable contributions and other sources of revenue.

Disparities

Undocumented Immigrants To Strain Safety-Net Hospitals

By |

Undocumented immigrants are expected to make up a larger share of Connecticut’s uninsured population next year, putting new financial pressures on safety-net hospitals that provide emergency care to everyone, state and national health experts predict. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides coverage options for legal immigrants, but those in the U.S. illegally cannot apply for Medicaid, even if they are poor, or buy coverage at Access Health CT (the new insurance marketplace), even if they have cash. That means illegal residents without coverage will continue turning to local emergency departments for care at a time when Connecticut hospitals face the loss of millions of dollars in federal and state subsidies to help defray the cost of uncompensated care. “This is a global problem that isn’t going away. This population (of undocumented residents) is not being addressed by any state or federal initiatives.

Fines & Sanctions

Hospitals Show Financial Gains, But Smaller Facilities Struggle

By |

Connecticut’s acute-care hospitals ended the last fiscal year in slightly better financial health than in the prior year, with just five of 30 hospitals reporting losses, according to a new state report. Data filed with the state Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) shows that six hospitals had operating losses in the 2012 fiscal year – the same number as in 2011, but fewer than in 2010. When non-operating gains and losses are included, five hospitals had negative total margins, or deficits – down from eight in 2011. The annual OHCA report paints a positive picture of the overall financial health of hospitals, highlighting that Connecticut’s hospitals had a total gain from operations of about $513 million in the last fiscal year – a substantial increase, of close to 70 percent, over the prior year. Total hospital net assets also increased.

Fines & Sanctions

CT Fails Consumers Looking For Health Care Costs

By |

Connecticut was among 29 states nationwide to earn an “F” from health advocates for lacking consumer-friendly laws that help residents compare actual prices for health care procedures and services. “There is no public resource in Connecticut that makes (comparison) pricing information available to consumers. That means there’s no consumer protection against egregious pricing behaviors by providers,” said Francois de Brantes, executive director of the Health Care Incentive Improvement Institute in Newtown, which partnered with Catalyst for Payment Reform to publish the “Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws.”

The Report Card’s scores reflected a state’s overall legislative effort toward health care price transparency, with states that post price information on a public website receiving more points than those that release a report or provide data to consumers only upon request. The organizations that developed the report card are nonprofits that support payment reforms to increase the quality and value of health care. Ellen Andrews, executive director of the Connecticut Health Policy Project, said, “The score is totally warranted.