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| The Monthly Pulse |
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| How Labor Costs Will Define 2024 for CFOs
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| The Story |
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| Factors like workforce unrest and new wage laws are expected to drive labor expenses up for healthcare this year. Amid strikes and demands for higher pay, hospital leaders will need to balance fair wages with financial stability. While bringing down labor costs may be an important objective for CFOs, they mustn’t do so at the risk of increasing turnover, since replacing workers can come at an even higher cost. |
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| What You Should Know |
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| Experts say that in 2024, CFOs should focus on budget-friendly strategies that bolster recruitment and retention. Some ideas include offering a strong benefits package, prioritizing training and development opportunities, and implementing a recognition or rewards program. Additionally, offering flexible scheduling to promote a work-life balance can be especially powerful for attracting and retaining staff on the heels of the healthcare burnout crisis. Other options might be leveraging existing technology to further streamline workflows, prioritizing community involvement, and creating clear, actionable career advancement opportunities.
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| House passes bill targeting price transparency, site-neutral payments, PBMs
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| The Story |
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| In December, the House of Representatives voted to pass a bipartisan healthcare policy bill to increase the transparency of hospital prices. Named the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, the bill would also make payments for drugs in Medicare equal regardless of where they’re administered, including in hospital and outpatient settings. Finally, the bill would delay payment cuts for hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured patients until 2026.
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| What You Should Know |
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| Lawmakers strongly support the bipartisan legislation, which was passed on a 20-71 vote and will now go to the Senate. Yet, hospitals have lobbied against the provisions to equalize payments in Medicare, including the American Hospital Association. They argue that the site-neutral payment approach would cut revenue by more than $3.7 billion within the next decade, adding a new burden to hospitals that are already facing financial crises and ultimately threatening their ability to deliver quality care.
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| White House wants to set minimum cyber standards for hospitals, healthcare |
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| The Story |
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| In December, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a paper on strengthening the resilience of healthcare. The paper cited a significant surge in data breaches, and ransomware in particular, from 2018 to 2022. The White House will work with HHS to establish minimum standards to protect healthcare against cyberattacks, which is part of the Biden administration’s ongoing effort to improve security across several critical sectors. |
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| What You Should Know |
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| One recent cyberattack involved Ardent Health Services, which has 30 hospitals and 200 sites across six states. The healthcare organization had to take its network offline and divert emergency care after the Thanksgiving attack. National security advisors note that recent attacks have been linked to a security flaw and are urging healthcare organizations to patch against the CitrixBleed vulnerability in particular, which has been exploited in ransomware attacks since October.
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| Healthcare CMO Summit |
| Thurs., Feb. 22 - Fri., Feb. 23 |
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| ViVE - Where Digital Health Execs Go to Do Business |
| Sun., Feb. 25 - Wed., Feb. 28 |
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| Becker's Healthcare 14th Annual Meeting |
| Mon., Apr. 8 - Thurs., Apr. 11 |
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| 2024 AHA Annual Membership Meeting |
| Sun., Apr. 14 - Tues., Apr. 16 |
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