The Business of Health: Keeping The Lights on Through The Pandemic and Beyond
For some hospitals and health systems, especially those in rural areas, keeping the lights on by having stable financial performance has long been a challenge. And now COVID-19 is causing even strong positive margins to slip into the red.
The government, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has eased some of the burden by allowing providers flexibility in the use of telehealth during the public health emergency. Some of these temporary measures may become permanent, though the big question of whether payment parity will remain has yet to be answered.
