Report: More than half of hospitals projected to operate in the red through 2022
A new analysis prepared by Kaufman, Hall & Associates, LLC and released recently by the American Hospital Association shows that hospitals and health systems continue to face intense pressure on staff and resources while also dealing with rising expenses for supplies, drugs and equipment, as well as for the workforce.
According to the analysis, the trends are expected to continue through 2022, with losses in the billions of dollars for hospitals and health systems, resulting in the most financially difficult year for the field since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
The first half of 2022 has severely tested hospitals and health systems due to the impacts of COVID-19 surges, increased expenses and a lack of COVID-19 relief funding. As a result, even the most optimistic projections for the entirety of 2022 indicate margins will be down 37% compared to pre-pandemic levels, with more than half of hospitals operating in the red.
Under a pessimistic scenario for the rest of 2022, margins could be down as much as 133% compared to pre-pandemic levels, with over two-thirds of hospitals operating in the red.
Hospital and health system expenses are expected to increase by nearly $135 billion this year over 2021 levels with a large component of that deriving from expenses related to retaining and supporting the workforce. Employed labor expenses are projected to rise by $57 billion more than last year and contract labor by $29 billion. In fact, contract labor expenses alone are nearly 500% higher than pre-pandemic levels, which has played a significant role in driving expense growth for hospitals. The remaining $49 billion in added expenses in 2022 include those for supplies, drugs and equipment, which have all experienced significant growth from pre-pandemic levels.
Emory Healthcare moves to new system-wide EHR
Emory Healthcare announced it will migrate from Cerner’s electronic medical record to Epic’s integrated and comprehensive health care software, effective Oct. 1, 2022. With this progress, patients can expect to see an advanced patient experience and care team members will find more integration and alignment of services across the health care system.
Emory Healthcare’s long relationship with Cerner has been productive and served its patients and community well, a release said. Moving to Epic will allow the health system to align its hospitals and clinics onto one integrated, modernized platform – accelerating quality improvements, supporting best-in-class patient experiences and improving the electronic health record (EHR) experience for care team members. The collaboration with Epic will also improve Emory Healthcare’s ability to seamlessly share patient records and care information within Emory locations and across organizations, while offering optimal self-service options for patients.
“What excites us most about this transition to a fully integrated, unified clinical and billing system are the benefits to our patients, care team members and clinicians,” says Dane Peterson, interim CEO and current president and COO of Emory Healthcare. “We believe having all of our entities on one integrated platform will bring great value. Consistent with our Care Transformation Model, patients remain at the center of all of our decisions.”
Mayo Clinic expands relationship with AI company
Mayo Clinic is expanding its strategic 12-year relationship with nference, a health technology company driven by artificial intelligence (AI). This relationship provides nference partners and customers with access to Mayo Clinic Platform’s extensive de-identified electronic health data across a range of disease and therapeutic areas.
nference has launched its AI-driven nSights platform, which will allow biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as diagnostic firms, to access and work with curated, de-identified health care data to advance research and discovery.
The expanded collaboration will increase access to data-derived insights and knowledge by establishing a Mayo-branded version of nSights, called Mayo Clinic Platform_Discover. It will be built and supported by nference to help health care innovators solve some of the most complex clinical challenges.
To unlock actionable information, the data sets are:
- Deep – Data can be analyzed accurately for reliable information that is relevant and actionable.
- Curated – Data are from diverse sources and can be integrated in repositories and authenticated and archived.
- Patient level – Data are anonymous and collected in real time, aiming to eliminate interviewer bias or recall errors.
- Across therapeutic areas – Data range from cardiology to oncology, and immunology to infectious diseases
- Structured and unstructured – Data are from multiple sources, including clinical notes and lab test results.
RWJBarnabas Health opens innovation center to study promising digital health tools
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS) launched a new model for medical research and innovation at the grand opening of its Center for Innovation, located on the main campus of the hospital.
The Center for Innovation is a partnership between RWJUH and Rutgers RWJMS to bring together clinicians, researchers and private industry to invent and develop new technologies that address both complex and common healthcare issues. The ultimate goal is to develop innovative clinical trials that yield medical breakthroughs to improve preventive care and health outcomes for patients.
The center’s concept and design were led by the Cardiovascular Services team under the direction of Partho Sengupta, MD, FACC, but it is designed for use across all clinical teams and disciplines. Dr. Sengupta is the Henry Rutgers Professor of Cardiology and Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Hypertension at RWJMS, and Chief of Cardiology at RWJUH, and is a member of the Combined Medical Group of RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Health. The center was made possible via donor funding from the RWJ University Hospital Foundation.
The center’s core team for digital transformation will be led by Naveena Yanamala, PhD, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in the Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Hypertension, RWJMS. Examples of the technology under development at the Center include the use of ear buds to provide real-time heart rhythm metrics such as heart rate and heart rate variability; a medical vest with sensors that can be placed on a patient to record – without blood draw and analysis – “markers” or vital information that may indicate a heart attack; and hand-held mobile EKG technology as a replacement for use of a stethoscope.