From the American Hospital Association's comments to the Federal Trade Commission about merger guidelines to the uptick in initial jobless claims in the last week, here are five trends for ASC leaders to follow today.
1. The American Hospital Association told the Federal Trade Commission it doesn't think there needs to be major revisions to the merger guidelines to prevent anticompetitive deals. However, the AHA did propose two revisions to correct defects in the economic models used to evaluate transactions and allow for mergers that would better coordinate care.
2. The median hospital and health system operating margin dropped by 11.8 percent month over month in February, according to a March 28 Kaufman Hall report, and margins were 42.4 percent lower than February 2020. The national labor shortages and supply chain issues could mean hospital losses will continue for the first quarter of the year.
3. President Joe Biden is expected to tap into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and release up to 1 million barrels of oil per day as energy prices continue to rise, according to The Wall Street Journal. This would be the third time the administration has tapped into the petroleum reserve, and the daily release could last for months.
4. Initial jobless claims were up by 14,000 claims last week, hitting 202,000. The four-week moving average of initial jobless claims was 208,500, down slightly from the previous range. States with an initial claims increase for the week ending March 19 include Florida, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Connecticut. California, Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas and Illinois had the largest jobless claims decreases, according to a report from the Department of Labor.
5. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. added more than 50 low-cost medications to its product list, including topical creams, antihistamines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and more. The company now has 140 low-cost versions of generic drugs.