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and low-income patients.
“That’s a program that’s a lifeline for hos-
pitals, and it constantly gets attacked, usually by pharmaceutical companies who want to do away with it because they have to dis- count drugs at a very high rate,” said Hatiras, who, like and others we spoke with, is not expecting any real changes to the 340B pro- gram, but acknowledged they could happen. In the meantime, they stressed that, while the unforeseen is always concerning, the many challenges that are in plain sight are certainly daunting enough.
DR. ROBERT ROOSE
“The challenges in healthcare over the past five years have shifted, but they have not let up. And they ultimately result in financial challenges that are stressing the ways in which we collectively pro- vide access to care in our communities.”
Peter Banko, called a “transformation plan, one that calls for making hard decisions, relieving cost pressures, some cuts, but also invest- ments in the years to come and greater financial stability.
“Next year at this time, we’ll be talking about being in a growth mode,” he added. “Not contracting, not selling things, but investing $1.2 billion over the next six years.”
There has been a good deal of red ink within the industry — 75% of Bay State hospitals will lose money in 2024, according to the Mas- sachusetts Hospital Assoc. — but Hatiras said HMC has been able
to stay in the black, in part through help from the Commonwealth, which has been very supportive of its hospitals, but also by managing carefully.
“We don’t have a lot to fall back on, so we’re careful,” he noted. “We also try to think outside the box and be smart about the risks we take.”
As they looked ahead to 2025 and beyond, those we spoke with made heavy use of that phrase ‘guarded optimism’ when it comes to improvement of the overall bottom line as well as issues such as the workforce. But they also spoke of the need for real change when it comes to how people are cared for.
“We need to develop more personalized care,” Banko said. “One- size-fits-all doesn’t work; someone who’s 85 needs different care than someone’s who’s 65 or 55 or 25. I’ve been in this industry for 40
Indeed, ‘relentless’ was the word Dr. Rob-
ert Roose, president of Mercy Medical Cen-
ter, used to describe these ongoing headwinds, which include every- thing from spiraling costs and inflation to persistently inadequate reimbursements from payers, especially those of the public variety; from continuing workforce challenges to access and capacity issues.
And then, there is the overriding issue driving all those listed above — caring for a population that is older and sicker than what has been seen historically.
“The challenges in healthcare over the past five years have shifted, but they have not let up,” Roose said. “And they ultimately result in financial challenges that are stressing the ways in which we collec- tively provide access to care in our communities.”
The many hardships facing hospitals large and small have been effectively encapsulated in recent headlines involving the Baystate Health system, which includes four hospitals.
The system went public recently to detail recent struggles — including $300 million in operating losses over the past few years — and its response.
That includes the sale of its lab (which helped stem the flow of red ink for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30), the pending sale of Health New England, and, most recently, the announced elimination of 130 administrative positions.
Those steps are part of what Baystate’s new president and CEO,
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