Healthcare in Crisis: Rising Bankruptcies, Policy Challenges, and the Big Question of Trust in AI and Amazon's Expansion into Healthcare
ABIG Health is taking the artificial intelligence (AI) conversation global! Our founder, Adam Brown, MD, MBA, recently shared his thoughts on AI with Asian Hospital & Healthcare. Adam discusses the risks associated AI, the opportunities, and the fundamental need for the healthcare community to build trust with patients when it comes to this newest technology. Check out the feature in their latest issue: Ai and the Future of Healthcare
Healthcare: not out of the woods yet
If you were under the impression that healthcare providers and other industry firms were out of post-pandemic financial woods, think again. As Revenue Intelligence reported earlier this month, the number of healthcare bankruptcies increased 71% between 2022 and 2023 and is now at its highest level in five years. The victims were not small startups, either. In fact, the report, issued by Gibbins Advisers, examined healthcare and medical sector Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases for companies with liabilities of at least $10 million. Gibbins found bankruptcy filings with liabilities of more than $100 million rose from eight filings in 2021 and seven in 2022 to 28 filings in 2023. Hospital bankruptcies were at their highest level since 2019.
The Gibbins study was not the only gloomy report released recently. Chartis found half of the nation’s rural hospitals are losing money from their operations. That number is the highest percentage seen in the past decade and is up from 43% in 2023.
Our BIG Question: Public policy has something to do with these troubles. Obviously, post-No Surprises Act, hospitals and healthcare providers are waiting longer for reimbursements, but the Chartis report blamed Medicare Advantage too. Indeed, the total number of rural community residents enrolled in Medicare Advantage increased from 6.3 million in 2019 to 9.2 million in 2023 and now total 38% of all Medicare-eligible Americans living in rural communities. What, if anything, should Congress do to intervene?
Speaking of the No Surprises Act…
Healthcare Dive recently reported that:
The federal government received 13 times more No Surprises Act billing disputes in the first half of 2023 than it expected to receive in a full year;
The number of disputes has been growing each quarter, and
Of the 288,810 disputes filed in the first six months of 2023, fewer than half were closed, and arbiters rendered payment decisions in less than one-third of cases.
The dispute resolution has already caught the eye of some members of Congress. At a hearing back in September, U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said, “While Congress made strides in stopping surprise medical bills, the fallout of this law’s implementation demands our oversight … It’s unacceptable that a major win for Americans be turned into a scenario where medical providers struggle to keep their doors open, patients lose access to quality care, and the basic principle of knowing the price of the care they’ll receive has yet to be realized.”
Our BIG Thought: The American Hospital Association recently issued a demand for increased oversight of the dispute process. It is about time the feds listen …
Your hospital may be going bankrupt, but Amazon is doing just fine
Amazon is ubiquitous. Consumers rely on the website for convenient access to entertainment, groceries, fast (and luxury) fashion, and even ... chicken harnesses? And now Amazon has debuted a new offering: Health Condition Programs, a product to make it easier for consumers to “discover” the digital health benefits they need to manage chronic conditions like diabetes.
In a recent op-ed, our founder, Dr. Adam Brown asked whether we should trust Amazon for healthcare, and whether the company’s entry into digital health, prescription drug, and other medical offering will improve care or further corporatize it?
Adam’s BIG Thought and Question: As Adam said, the answer to those questions is up to us. Healthcare leaders need to be the loyal opposition, pressing for tough questions in the absence of antitrust enforcement from the federal government. How can they best accomplish this? Read on, and share your thoughts with us on social media.
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