City's public hospitals get Obamacare boost
Irina Ivanova
The Independent Budget Office hailed the Health and Hospitals Corp.'s insurance plan for low-income New Yorkers, MetroPlus, as "an unambiguously positive development for HHC and its bottom line," in an analysis released Wednesday. But the group cautioned that popularity of that insurer's products on the state exchange may not be enough to stem HHC's growing deficit. The mayor's preliminary budget projects that HHC's expenses will continue to outstrip revenues in fiscal years 2014 through 2018.
HHC's operating expenses are expected to rise by 11% by 2018, the IBO reported. At the same time, the system's revenue will drop 3%, a trend driven by cuts to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates, facility closures after Superstorm Sandy and a general decline in demand for inpatient stays at hospitals.
"Adding in interest income and expense, which the corporation does not include when reporting operating revenue and costs, HHC projects an operating loss of $640 million in 2014 increasing to $1.8 billion in 2018," said the IBO.
Like many health systems, HHC is treating fewer patients at its hospitals. Factoring out the hospitals that were shut in 2013 from storm damage, acute care inpatient discharges for the first half of fiscal year 2014 fell by nearly 6% over the year-earlier period. Even more dramatically, fiscal year 2014 hospital discharges were 11% lower than the equivalent period in 2010.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140319/HEALTH_CARE/140319839/citys-public-hospitals-get-obamacare-boost