Let’s wish Medicare and Medicaid a happy birthday

07/31/2015

By W. Stephen Love, President/CEO, DFW Hospital Council I would like to wish Medicare and Medicaid a happy birthday. On July 30, 2015, the programs turned 50 years old. I am old enough to remember the birth of these social healthcare programs, and it was not easy. In 1965, senior citizens over the age of 65 had little income and … Read More

What does Trade Legislation have to do with Medicare?

04/22/2015

Blog by W. Stephen Love, President/CEO, Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council The healthcare landscape is changing as we move towards coordinated patient care with a “triple aim” of better health, better care and better value. To encourage transformation, it is important for laws and regulations to keep pace. All governmental agencies need to work collectively to support this healthcare transformation. The … Read More

Ten Days and Counting

04/03/2015

Blog by W. Stephen Love, President/CEO, DFW Hospital Council While the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), the Senate adjourned at 3:30 a.m. March 27 without taking action. Congress will return in 10 days on April 13 and providers are counting each day. It will be an uncomfortable spring break as we … Read More

Senate adjourns without repealing SGR

03/27/2015

In a follow-up to the article posted this morning in D Healthcare Daily on the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bill repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate, it appears the Senate adjourned at 3:30 a.m. Friday without taking action. They will not return for two weeks due to Easter Break. DFW Hospital Council President/CEO Steve Love said the Senate should … Read More

Love comments on SGR agreement

03/27/2015

In an article in this morning’s D Healthcare Daily, DFW Hospital Council President/CEO Steve Love provided his opinion on the U.S. House of Representatives’ bipartisan agreement yesterday to approve legislation that will repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate. “While the bill may not be perfect, it does permanently put into place appropriate physician reimbursement which hospitals fully support,” Love said. The … Read More

Love discusses Medicare “physician fix” in DBJ blog

03/28/2014

In response to the decision on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives to approve legislation preventing a pending 24 percent cut to Medicare physician pay rates for another year, Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council President and CEO Steve Love was interviewed by Bill Hethcock of the Dallas Business Journal in his blog posted March 27. The decision essentially postpones the … Read More

Funding for physician payment changes must be front and center

11/11/2013

We are approaching the end of the year, a time for college football bowls and New Year’s Eve celebrations. Amid the frivolity of these popular winter events, Congress will postpone adjustments to the flawed Medicare sustainable grow rate (SGR) formula until the end of the year. Without appropriate congressional action, Medicare payments to physicians and other health professionals will decline … Read More

What About Hospital Patient Care Costs?

04/09/2013

About five years ago, a “think tank” and university published total Medicare costs per beneficiary in different regions of the country. They stated Texas had some of the highest health care costs in the nation. I contacted the people who conducted the study, reviewed their raw data and extracted only acute care hospital expenses. My analysis revealed acute care hospital … Read More

Love discusses sequester threat to health care

02/27/2013

In response to the potential sequester’s cuts to Medicare, the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council President and CEO Steve Love was interviewed by Bill Hethcock of The Dallas Business Journal in a Feb. 26 blog. “Sequester cuts to Medicare will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and cut hospital margins dangerously thin,” Love said. “We think as you look at the … Read More

Peeling Back the Onion

01/22/2013

U.S. healthcare spending grew 3.9 percent in 2011, reaching $2.7 trillion and representing three consecutive years of slow growth. Healthcare spending as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) remained stable at 17.9. If we peel back the onion to look at how U.S. healthcare dollars are spent, we might be surprised. Hospital patient care represents only 31 percent of … Read More