With healthcare reform’s focus on expanding access, controlling costs could come down to employers, consultants say.
As part of our healthcare special report last week, we talked with executives and consultants on how healthcare reform is likely to play out.
With reform, more people are likely to fall under employer healthcare plans with less variation permitted in plan design and contributions.
That could push up premiums, which already go up every year.
For employers, more focus on wellness programs—which seek to get workers to quit smoking, improve diet or manage chronic conditions—could be a way to help control costs.
“More employers are engaging their workforce, and often spouses, in workplace efforts to improve health,” said Christopher Coulter, chief medical officer of Precept Group, an Irvine-based employee benefits consultant.
Some employers are offering incentives for their workers to take part in prenatal care, nurse coaching for chronic illnesses and case management, he said.
Businesses can give information to their workers about self-care options as a “consumerist” strategy that they could use in trying to enhance wellness and keep costs down, said Chris Giammona, a partner and health and benefits consultant in the Newport Beach office of New York-based Mercer LLC.
They also can use social networks for health improvement, as well as incentives such as encouraging a switch from name-brand prescription drugs to generics, he said.
Tenet Sees Admissions Drop
Tenet Healthcare Group Inc., a Dallas-based hospital company with three Orange County facilities, is blaming a lack of babies for a drop in second-quarter admissions.
Trevor Fetter, Tenet’s chief executive, said on a conference call with analysts that a dip in demand for obstetric and gynecology services, including baby deliveries, accounted for a third of the company’s drop in commercially insured admissions in the quarter.
Tenet owns Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, along with Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Community Hospital. The company has reduced its operations in the county in recent years.
As for the second quarter, the hospital operator swung to a profit of $25 million from a loss of $15 million a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue rose 3% to $2.3 billion.
Analysts expected Tenet to make $30.1 million on revenue of $2.32 billion.
Tenet’s revenue per admission and outpatient visits grew in the quarter. The company said its inpatient revenue rose 3% to $1.48 billion, and its outpatient revenue was up 4% to $733 million.
“Our outpatient business appears to be picking up after a weaker start to the year,” Fetter said on the call.
Grubb & Ellis Fund Buys in Idaho
A healthcare real estate fund of Santa Ana’s Grubb & Ellis Co. has paid $15.8 million for a medical office building in Idaho.
Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II recently bought a 99% stake in Pocatello East Medical Office Building south of Idaho Falls in the eastern part of the state.
The building has four stories and 76,000 square feet of space. It is attached to the 250-bed Portneuf Medical Center, which Grubb said was the only acute-care hospital within 50 miles.
The building is 100% leased to Pocatello Health Services LLC and Pocatello Hospital LLC. It was built in 2007.
Bits and Pieces
Blue Shield of California, a San Francisco-based insurer with 243,985 health maintenance organization and preferred provider organization members in Orange County, said it was working with Orange-based HealthCompare Insurance Services Inc. HealthCompare helps its clients research, compare, buy and enroll in health insurance plans online … CalOptima, an Orange agency that provides health coverage for more than 390,000 low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities, said it awarded $100,000 to five safety net nonprofits that help people gain access to medical care. Among them are the OC affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which provides breast cancer diagnostics for uninsured and under-insured women, and Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s Children’s Breathmobile program, which provides asthma care … Amerita Inc., an Irvine-based company that provides drugs to patients in their homes, said it bought Saffa Infusion Pharmacy in Tulsa, Okla. A purchase price wasn’t disclosed.
