Vivian Ho

Unfortunately, hospitals are gaming the current system outlined in executive orders and department regulations. As a result, "A large portion of middle-class wealth in America is just locked up in hospital cash reserves." usatoday.com/story/news/hea…

If true transparency were unleashed, the savings that could be achieved by open competition in the healthcare market would be astronomical-- as much as $1 trillion. See the full letter here: static1.squarespace.com/static/60065b8…

Today, along with 31 fellow economists from across the political spectrum, I sent a letter to the US Senate urging action on the Braun-Sanders bill to codify in law a requirement for hospitals to post actual prices. static1.squarespace.com/static/60065b8…

Full article⬇️ Read, & retweet widely! 10/10 end🧵academic.oup.com/healthaffairss…

💼 Profit margins tell a revealing story. Hospitals (both for-profit and nonprofit) consistently have higher profit margins than insurance companies. This suggests that hospital pricing plays a big role in driving up insurance premiums. 6/10

🏥Hospital prices are rising faster than insurance premiums and professional services. From 2006 to 2023, the hospital price index shot up significantly, leading the charge in overall healthcare cost increases. 4/10

💵 First things first: Let’s get the numbers! Since 1999, family premiums have increased by 314%, while workers' contributions have soared by 326%! Meanwhile, wages? Only a 111% rise. 2/10

🚨📈 Over the past 25 years, the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has skyrocketed! But why is this happening? In a recent #HAScholar @Health_Affairs piece, Vivian Ho (@HealthEconTX) & I do some investigation. 1/10 🧵

@BakerInstitute @MauraCoughlin @SBMCCLURE @jsuliburk This study confirms our initial findings published in JAMA Network Open: jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

@BakerInstitute @MauraCoughlin @SBMCCLURE @jsuliburk @jsuliburk gave us the idea for this project, @SBMCCLURE helped us get the idea, and @MauraCoughlin and Marah Short were the analytical experts. Important findings for any large city trying to provide adequate trauma care when funding is tight.

JUST OUT: Do hospital trauma center upgrades lead to better outcomes for patients?@MauraCoughlin, Marah Short, @SBMCCLURE, @jsuliburk, & @HealthEconTX’s working paper studies Texas insurance claims to track changes in spending, mortality, & readmissions. bit.ly/3OQqcfC

@jsuliburk gave us the idea for this paper, @sbmcclure helped us get the data, and @mauracoughlin and Marah Short were the analytic experts. Important findings for large cities that need to insure adequate trauma care when money is tight.

@Soleil_Shah and @tradeoffspod featured our @Health_Affairs paper finding that nonprofit hospitals with more profits raise their cash reserves, but not charity care.

@mikehealthai1 @Soleil_Shah @tradeoffspod @Health_Affairs We're working on that. It's the next paper in our project funded by ArnoldVentures.

@Soleil_Shah @tradeoffspod @Health_Affairs @HealthEconTX That’s the least of it. Now check admin salaries since 2012

From 2012 to 2019, nonprofit hospitals increased their average profits by $16 million per hospital. What happened to their charity care spending? This week on @tradeoffspod, I break down a new @Health_Affairs paper by @HealthEconTX on this topic. tradeoffs.org/2023/07/11/how…

@DrZackaryBerger @_Eric_Reinhart It's not in the article appendix. Eric is pulling the numbers straight from the online NASHP Hospital Cost Tool, which is where the data comes from.

@jmdr22 @_Eric_Reinhart Yes, all the data comes from Medicare Cost Reports, filled out by the hospitals.

@_Eric_Reinhart This is real?

@_Eric_Reinhart Yup. Which hospitals?

@DrZackaryBerger Did you download the spreadsheet first? I've found downloading then filtering is faster for finding a hospital

If you’re interested in looking at the data source for particular hospitals, the latest version of the dataset is here: tool.nashp.org

@_Eric_Reinhart Here are some of the #'s for 2019 (the last year of our study sample) : Cash Reserves/Charity Care/Operating Profit NYU Langone $3.0b/15.7m/579m NY Presbyterian $8.3b/43.2m/1.1b Stanford Health Care $4.0b/33.8b/1.5b Houston Methodist $5.8b/45.8b/590m

@_Eric_Reinhart Thanks for getting the word out!

Here are some of the #'s for 2019 (the last year of our study sample) : Cash Reserves/Charity Care/Operating Profit NYU Langone $3.0b/15.7m/579m NY Presbyterian $8.3b/43.2m/1.1b Stanford Health Care $4.0b/33.8b/1.5b Houston Methodist $5.8b/45.8b/590m