DAILY UPDATE: Hospital Charges, Cannabis and Stocks as Markets Slump

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The prices hospitals charge for their services have long been opaque, but thanks to a 2021 hospital price transparency law, the picture is starting to come slightly into focus. And it turns out, there are some huge disparities in the prices hospitals charge that can’t be attributed to quality of care, according to a recent study from research institute Rand Corporation.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

🟢 What’s up

What’s down

  • Salesforce is down 19.73% after the cloud computing company missed revenue estimates for the first time since 2006 and projected slower sales in the coming quarter. Turns out not even commercials featuring hunky Matthew McConaughey could save the company’s quarter.
  • UIPath shares plummeted 34.06% after announcing disappointing results and lower forward guidance, and to add insult to injury got hit with an analyst downgrade from Bank of America.
  • Build-A-Bear Workshop got the stuffing knocked out of it, dropping 13.92% after it missed estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
  • Hormel sank 9.69% after missing earnings thanks to slower retail sales offsetting higher meat prices, leaving shareholders stuck eating bologna sandwiches for lunch.
  • Kohl’s dropped 22.88% in its worst day ever after the company announced a terrible quarter and forecast more issues ahead due to customers contending with inflation.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500® index (SPX) fell 31.47 points (0.6%) to 5,235.48; the Dow Jones Industrial Averagedropped 330.06 points (0.9%) to 38,111.48; the NASDAQ Composite® ($COMP) declined 183.50 points (1.1%) to 16,737.08.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) lost more than 7 basis points to 4.548%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.19 to 14.47.

Interest-rate-sensitive sectors including banks and utilities were among the stronger performers Thursday, boosted by a pullback in Treasury yields from four-week highs posted earlier in the week. Stocks are still heading for a down week, with the S&P 500 on track for its first weekly decline out of the past six.

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Legal cannabis is a booming industry: An estimated $38.4 billion in medical and recreational cannabis was sold in the US in 2023, and that figure is projected to rise to $56.9 billion by 2028. The industry has grown an average of 29.1% per year between 2018 and 2023, according to IBISWorld.

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PODCAST: Hospital Insurance Contracting [Prices]

Percent-of-Charge Discounts”

By Eric Bricker MD

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PODCAST: Hospitals Charge More When Patients are Un-Insured?

BY ERIC BRICKER MD

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CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

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AHRQ Report on Uninsured Hospitalizations

Differs from Insured Hospitalizations

By Staff Reportershorizontal-nurses

According to Tracey Walker, Senior Editor of Healthcare Executive News on March 13, 2009, the number of uninsured hospitalizations increased by 34%, over the last 10-year period, and the number of Medicaid hospitalizations increased by 36%. However, a newt report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggests the number of privately insured hospitalizations remained about the same.

AHRQ Report

According to the report, hospital charges increased for the uninsured faster than for overall hospital charges (76% for compared with 69% for all hospital stays). The average hospital charge for an uninsured stay in 2006 was $19,400 compared to $11,000 in 1997 (after adjusting for inflation). The average length of stay for the uninsured remained the same at about 4 days per hospital visit. Other findings included: 

  • Compared to all hospital stays, uninsured hospitalizations begin in the emergency department much more frequently (60% for the uninsured compared to 44% for all hospital stays).
  • The number of uninsured hospitalizations for skin infections rose sharply over the 10-year period, increasing from about 28,000 stays in 1997 to about 75,000 stays in 2006. Early appropriate outpatient treatment for skin infections can usually prevent the need for hospitalization.
  • There was a 36% increase in hospitalizations billed to Medicaid during the 10-year period.

Assessment

According to AHRQ, on average the costs (not charges) to provide hospital care to the uninsured are about $1,500 less expensive ($6,800 vs. $8,400 per hospital stay) than costs for all other hospital stays.

Assessment

Lack of health insurance has serious consequences on individuals and societies. For example, the uninsured may be more likely to delay or forgo necessary medical care until eventual hospitalization makes care much more expensive. And philosophically,

“As spending on Medicaid increases; the number of uninsured hospitalizations ought to decrease proportionally—adjusted for population increases”

So says, Hope Hetico; RN, MHA, CMP™ of www.HealthcareFinancials.com.

“But, this was not the case, and determining exactly why will require more studies.”

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Does a similar inverse relationship hold for public versus private education, housing and transportation?

Why or why not? Some pundits wonder if it is due to private entities having more “skin-in-the game?” Please opine?

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