Dear Readers,

The holiday season is upon us, and for Halloween, October delivered a treat rather than a trick for hospitals. Rather unexpectedly, October results were quite favorable with overall increased volume, revenue, and profitability as compared with last year. With the increasing volume, non-labor expenses also grew with supplies and drugs being chief among them. In light of those findings, in this month’s spotlight we highlight the proposed changes to the 340B program which will lead to greater exposure on drug expenses as beneficial reimbursement programs become more difficult to qualify for.

As our continued readership grows, this month you will only be able to access all pages of the report if you are a paid subscriber. With health systems and hospital executives, rating agencies, and industry and thought leaders having already subscribed, we hope you will also find the same value that others are gaining by reading this timely and insightful publication. Both individual and group subscriptions are available – the latter with exclusive features – which you can view by clicking the orange subscribe button at the top of each page.

As the year comes to a close, we encourage you to continue to submit any topics you would like explored in the upcoming Spotlight as we aim to tailor our publication to your needs.

Thank you, Jim Blake