09.16.14
The Affordable Care Act is just one of a myriad of challenges currently facing hospitals. Healthcare reform has added 30 million additional U.S. patients to the nation’s insurance and delivery system. Competition from other hospital systems or physician practices is increasing dramatically and hospitals are treating higher acuity patients at a higher cost. There also are increased regulatory hurdles, the pain and cost of hospital consolidation and the ongoing universal axiom: decreasing reimbursement. For many, the recession is not over and hospital endowments have been decimated. Benefactor contributions are decreasing, and are expected to remain low if Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to reduce charitable donations levels allowed as tax deductions.2