Specific financial, regulatory and patient safety concerns

Percentage of community hospital CEOs who identified each issue as a specific concern for their hospital.


Main financial challenges

Concern Percent
Increasing costs for staff, supplies, etc. 70%
Medicaid reimbursement (including adequacy and timeliness of payment, etc.) 68%
Reducing operating costs 59%
Bad debt (including uncollectable emergency department and other charges) 56%
Competition from other providers (of any type—inpatient, outpatient, ambulatory care, diagnostic, retail, etc.) 50%
Managed care and other commercial insurance payments 50%
Medicare reimbursement (including adequacy and timeliness of payment, etc.) 49%
Government funding cuts (other than reduced reimbursement for Medicaid or Medicare) 48%
Transition from volume to value 48%
Revenue cycle management (converting charges to cash) 43%
Inadequate funding for capital improvements 37%
Emergency department overuse 31%
Moving away from fee-for-service 30%
Pricing and price transparency 29%

Concerns about governmental mandates

Concern Percent
CMS regulations 70%
Regulatory/legislative uncertainty affecting strategic planning 61%
Cost of demonstrating compliance 59%
State and local regulations/mandates 50%
CMS audits (RAC, MAC, CERT) 46%

Patient safety and quality concerns

Concern Percent
High price/insufficient reimbursement for medications 57%
Engaging physicians in improving the culture of quality/safety 56%
Engaging physicians in reducing clinically unnecessary tests and procedures 51%
Redesigning care processes 50%
Lack of availability of medications 45%
Redesigning work environment to reduce errors 40%
Public reporting of outcomes data (including being transparent, fairness of measures, reporting burden) 39%
Compliance with accrediting organizations (e.g., Joint Commission, NCQA) 37%
Pay for performance 32%
Leapfrog demands (i.e., computerized physician order entry, ICU staffing by trained intensivists and evidence-based hospital referral) 31%
Medication errors 14%

Notes

CEOs could choose as many issues as desired. Any specific concern with fewer than 50 responses was not included.