The healthcare industry enters 2010 as Congress maneuvers, argues and bargains its way toward legislation to expand insurance coverage and blunt (possibly) healthcare's mounting strain on federal, state, business and household budgets.
But until Congress acts—or not—the industry waits.
As one health system executive notes: “It's hard to plan for and react to ‘it' until you know what ‘it' is,” says Joseph Piemont, president and chief operating officer of Carolinas HealthCare System, Charlotte, N.C.
Read the stories
Watch the videosIn the meantime, more than a few significant business challenges await the industry, not the least being the nation's tentative recovery from an economic dive unlike any since the Great Depression. The nation's unemployment rate hovered at 10% near the end of last year after 23 months of layoffs that erased more than 7 million jobs. Temporary relief to subsidize private and public insurance will help workers laid off through February—after a last-minute two-month extension by Congress—and state budgets through December.
Insurers and hospitals are bracing for stress on operations in the coming year if federal aid expires but high unemployment persists and state budgets continue to struggle. Merger-and-acquisition activity is widely expected to increase among for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals as well as with post-acute providers, a sector that saw some consolidation late last year. Meanwhile, insurers already struggling with the loss of commercial enrollees are facing a scheduled cut to Medicare Advantage reimbursement.
The industry can also expect more attention from regulators on multiple issues. Enforcement efforts to weed out fraud, abuse and antitrust violations will likely increase, as will scrutiny of tax-exempt hospital and health system governing boards and executive compensation. And medical professionals and medical product companies could be required to publicly disclose the details of their consulting deals.
What follows is a closer look at some of these major trends and issues from
Modern Healthcare's editorial staff.
