The Real Economy Blog

Health Care

From hospital systems to home care providers, the health care sector is replete with middle market companies. The health needs of an aging population assure that this industry will continue to grow in coming years.

The mounting toll of cyberattacks on rural hospitals

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Rural health providers are increasingly under cyberattack. Enticed by valuable stores of health records and sometimes porous security, hackers infiltrate a hospital’s IT system and encrypt its data, making it unusable until the provider pays a ransom. If the hospital doesn’t pay up, the hackers can sell the data on the dark web to those who use it for ... READ MORE >

Is health care recession-proof?

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Health care has long been viewed as a defensive sector compared to the broader market when a potential economic downturn is looming. There were sound reasons for this -- many health care services had relatively inelastic demand and they were insulated from the effects of any global trade tensions. Today, the health care landscape has changed. Our view is ... READ MORE >

Scrutiny on private equity investment in health care increases

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As private equity groups continue to invest in the health care industry, their business practices are falling under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers, researchers and the news media. In 2018, for example, three Yale University researchers released a report that examined how out-of-network billing for emerge­ncy care in­ the United States can lead to ... READ MORE >

Health care jobs market remains tight, government data shows

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The Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey released by the government last week underscored continued tightness in the health care labor market through June. Health care organizations added 60,000 employees, after accounting for employee departures. Total job openings across the ecosystem increased by 10,000. Since 2014, total job openings in health care ... READ MORE >

When addressing nursing shortage, look to your own ranks first

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The market for skilled workers, administrators and support staff remains tight in U.S. health care as providers struggle to fill jobs, particularly critical roles such as nurses. The numbers have not appreciably improved since the last time I wrote about this topic: Total health care job openings have remained around 1.1 million to 1.2 million since December ... READ MORE >

Medical cost ratio is a growing concern among health insurers

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In recent weeks, health insurers Centene Corp., UnitedHealth Group Inc., and Anthem Inc. released earnings. Two others, Molina Healthcare Inc. and Humana Inc., will report later this month. Among the worrisome trends discussed on their earnings calls is a growing medical cost ratio, or MCR, the percent of premium the insurer spends on claims and expenses ... READ MORE >

Health care faces demand for pricing transparency

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On June 24, President Trump signed an executive order designed to improve transparency in the pricing of health care. It’s the latest move in an environment where consumers are exercising power over the cost of treatment, an area that historically offered them little wiggle room. Health care executives must consider that their consumers (patients) are now ... READ MORE >

As consumers gain leverage, lower health care deductibles are forthcoming

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Over the past decade, higher deductibles have become standard for the majority of health care plans in the United States. That standard could change, however, as consumers gain a louder voice in the health care value equation. Nearly half of individuals covered by employer-sponsored health plans have a high deductible plan, or HDP. Of those individuals, ... READ MORE >