Last Friday, Brett Gosney, CEO of Animas Surgical Hospital in Durango, Colo., spoke about the prognosis of physician-owned hospitals for the next four years at the 9th Annual Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management Conference in Chicago. Mr. Gosney is also the current president elect/vice president of the board of directors for Physician Hospitals of America.
Mr. Gosney explained there are 282 licensed, physician-owned hospitals in the country and they have consistently ranked higher than non-physician-owned hospitals in terms of quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. "In every state where physician-owned hospitals exist, they usually occupy the top 10 positions in each state for patient satisfaction," said Mr. Gosney. There are two physician-owned hospitals in Colorado, and Animas Surgical Hospital has ranked first in the state for the past two years.
Of course, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act brought a devastating mortarium against physician-owned hospitals. In the 2,300-page bill, two and one-quarter pages detailed restrictions on physician-owned hospitals. "In those few pages, the American Hospital Association got most of what they had been trying to achieve for the past 11 years," said Mr. Gosney.
Under PPACA, facilities currently operating with Medicare numbers or able to obtain one by Dec. 31, 2010 were grandfathered. Expansion of hospital beds, operating rooms or procedure rooms is prohibited. "The real damage came [to] facilities that were under development. There was no consideration for the phase of development. Some were in a month or two of completion and already had hundreds of millions of dollars invested. And those will just be shut down, which is extremely unfortunate," says Mr. Gosney. Construction for approximately 30 physician-owned hospitals was halted.
The Physician Hospitals Association filed a lawsuit in federal court in June 2010. The lawsuit includes three allegations: unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause, arbitrary, vague and contradictory language in the PPACA legislation and unconstitutional retroactivity. The lawsuit did not receive a favorable ruling and PHA has filed an appeal in the appellate court.
Mr. Gosney said the prognosis of physician-owned hospitals is difficult to determine. "The repeal of Section 6001 is dependent on a shift in political party majority," said Mr. Gosney. He said PHA has been working with legal counsels to develop viable alternative ownership strategies, but ones that will not be deemed "circumvention ploys" by federal officials. For instance, one strategy discussed is that of in-office ancillaries. "In theory, a group of physicians could have a single- or multi-discipline as a practice and then have a hospital as an ancillary. There's no reason to believe this wouldn't work, but we need to have caution regarding advisory opinions," said Mr. Gosney.
Related Articles on Physician-Owned Hospitals:
New Analysis of Health Reform Bills Shows Language to Limit Physician-Owned Hospitals Could Affect 70K Jobs
Drive to Repeal Health Reform Raises Hopes to End Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals
Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals in Health Reform Law
Mr. Gosney explained there are 282 licensed, physician-owned hospitals in the country and they have consistently ranked higher than non-physician-owned hospitals in terms of quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. "In every state where physician-owned hospitals exist, they usually occupy the top 10 positions in each state for patient satisfaction," said Mr. Gosney. There are two physician-owned hospitals in Colorado, and Animas Surgical Hospital has ranked first in the state for the past two years.
Of course, in 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act brought a devastating mortarium against physician-owned hospitals. In the 2,300-page bill, two and one-quarter pages detailed restrictions on physician-owned hospitals. "In those few pages, the American Hospital Association got most of what they had been trying to achieve for the past 11 years," said Mr. Gosney.
Under PPACA, facilities currently operating with Medicare numbers or able to obtain one by Dec. 31, 2010 were grandfathered. Expansion of hospital beds, operating rooms or procedure rooms is prohibited. "The real damage came [to] facilities that were under development. There was no consideration for the phase of development. Some were in a month or two of completion and already had hundreds of millions of dollars invested. And those will just be shut down, which is extremely unfortunate," says Mr. Gosney. Construction for approximately 30 physician-owned hospitals was halted.
The Physician Hospitals Association filed a lawsuit in federal court in June 2010. The lawsuit includes three allegations: unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause, arbitrary, vague and contradictory language in the PPACA legislation and unconstitutional retroactivity. The lawsuit did not receive a favorable ruling and PHA has filed an appeal in the appellate court.
Mr. Gosney said the prognosis of physician-owned hospitals is difficult to determine. "The repeal of Section 6001 is dependent on a shift in political party majority," said Mr. Gosney. He said PHA has been working with legal counsels to develop viable alternative ownership strategies, but ones that will not be deemed "circumvention ploys" by federal officials. For instance, one strategy discussed is that of in-office ancillaries. "In theory, a group of physicians could have a single- or multi-discipline as a practice and then have a hospital as an ancillary. There's no reason to believe this wouldn't work, but we need to have caution regarding advisory opinions," said Mr. Gosney.
Related Articles on Physician-Owned Hospitals:
New Analysis of Health Reform Bills Shows Language to Limit Physician-Owned Hospitals Could Affect 70K Jobs
Drive to Repeal Health Reform Raises Hopes to End Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals
Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals in Health Reform Law