2022 was among the most financially challenging years hospitals and health systems have had to face!

That recovery remains challenging, according to a Sept. 27 report from the American Hospital Association.

Recent reports demonstrate how almost every metric of hospital and health system financial health — including verage debt to cash flow, operating margins, days cash on hand and median cash to debt —  declined last year. Because of that, more than 30 hospitals and health systems that received credit rating downgrades so far this year.

Critics often cherry-pick a select few health systems to make sweeping generalizations about the financial conditions of all hospitals and health systems. As we look back on the last three years, it is clear that 2021 was the eye of the hurricane — a brief period of stability bookended by extreme volatility with more to come!!

$3M lifeline for Greenwood Leflore as supervisors reverse course

The Leflore County Board of Supervisors voted not to allow the hospital to draw on $1 million of credit Sept. 13. The board voted unanimously to reverse that decision Sept. 25 and boosted that number to $3 million, the report said.

The funds should be enough to keep the hospital afloat through the rest of 2023, according to the report. By then, Greenwood Leflore also expects a final decision at the federal level on its application to become a critical access hospital, an application so far denied.

Larry G. Potter

Senior Advisor

Lgpotter33@gmail.com

St. Margaret's Health in Illinois

The CEO, Tim Muntz, has blamed the June closure of St. Margaret’s Health Spring Valley (IL) on the Spring Valley City Bank.

Evidently, the bank "swept nearly $7.3 million" in funds despite a "forbearance agreement" that the two parties entered into 6 weeks earlier. The bank's actions left the hospital "no choice" but to close, Mr. Muntz said in a bankruptcy court filing. 

Mr. Muntz said that the bank swept the funds on June 5 causing the facility to announce its closure on June 12 and officially ceased operations on June 16. 

The hospital filed for bankruptcy Sept 1, while nearby, Peoria, IL-based OSF HealthCare has been attempting to purchase and reopen the closed St. Margaret’s Health Peru (IL) facilities.

It's possible this could have been avoided had the hospital engaged the underpayment recovery program offered by ADHC.

If you would like a direct meeting with the president/owner, send me an email. Thanks!!

Larry G. Potter

Senior Advisor

Lgpotter33@gmail.com

Four things some health system leaders have done to boost the bottom line.

 1. Focusing on our people, our patients, and our communities and acknowledge that at the end of every decision is a person. Remaining viable as a healthcare provider in our communities requires us to identify opportunities to increase efficiencies and sustainable processes.

2. Strengthening its workforce through medical provider retention and recruitment. In addition, enhancing telemedicine strategies to ensure their patient population is able to receive access to medical care wherever they are. 

3. Enhancing and increasing the medical group's contribution to the system's bottom line by increasing access to primary care physician practices through scheduling optimization to ensure patients have a clear and easy pathway to obtain primary care and continuing chronic disease management by leveraging our patient portal and online presence.

4.  Accessing the underpayment recovery platform, which analyzes every remittance received in a 12-to-24-month period to determine contractual compliance of each reimbursement. All done on a contingency basis where there are no upfront fees, costs, ongoing tasks required from clients. See sample below.

Larry G. Potter

Lgpotter33@gmail.com

8 hospitals went bankrupt this year!!

 

A summary of the 8 bankrupt hospitals:

*San Benito Health Care District, CA.

*The Hospital at Westlake Medical Center, a physician-owned hospital in Westlake Hills, Texas.

*Martin General Hospital, a 49-bed facility in Williamston, N.C., suspended operations Aug. 3 and plans to file for bankruptcy.

*Mercy Iowa City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug.7

*Texas hospital, Trinity Regional Hospital Sachse 

*Madera (CA) Community Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 10. 

*Montebello, CA.-based Beverly Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 19. 

*St. Margaret's Health, filed two petitions of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its St. Margaret's Spring Valley (Ill.) and St. Margaret's Peru (Ill.) facilities. 

ADHC may be able to help your facility, all work is solely on a contingency basis. There are no upfront fees, costs, ongoing tasks required from our clients. We take on 100% of the risk and effort to recovery revenues for our clients. We are only compensated when we successfully recover underpayments.

Text us at 1-847-872-4047

A computer-assisted navigation platform that helps surgeons perform complicated operations

 

The Seattle-based medical technology company Proprio has started training surgeons to use its FDA-cleared device to navigate spinal surgeries through artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and light field.

The technology in Paradigm, a navigation platform, helps surgeons digitally map and visualize the surgery site. It also has the potential to decrease complications and make operations more efficient.

San Antonio-based Methodist Healthcare System invested $75 million to reopen a shuttered San Antonio hospital before the end of the month.

Forest Park Medical Center has been closed since 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed Methodist's construction and reopening plans. 

After redevelopment, the new Methodist Hospital Landmark location will have 54 beds, 12 operating rooms and 27 private patient rooms. 

The facility will allow them to have more capacity as a system since it happens to be in a growing part of the city of San Antonio.

One can only hope they get enrolled in the underpayment recovery service which would be a risk-free addition to their RCM (Revenue Cycle Management) efforts. This forensic audit is performed on remittances AFTER all other RCM efforts have been completed including other internal or external underpayment recovery efforts. They only engage remittance files that our clients expect no further revenues from. Therefore, our services compliment all other RCM efforts and provides new revenues…100% of the time.

We work solely on a contingency basis. There are no upfront fees, costs, ongoing tasks required from our clients. We take on 100% of the risk and effort to recovery revenues for our clients. We are only compensated when we successfully recover underpayments.

Larry G. Potter

Senior Advisor

Text 1-847-872-4047 for any questions.