Three of the most
crucial financial challenges Children's faces in 2004 and beyond:
The rising cost of providing care due to:
- The continued challenge of recruiting and retaining the best
and brightest doctors, researchers and nurses
- The need to invest in information technology
- The increasing cost of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, blood
supplies and energy
Continuing to win fair reimbursement from government and
private payors
- State and federal reimbursements for Medicaid patients have
not kept pace with medical inflation. In addition, public health
programs that benefit our patients have been cut significantly
over the past several years and will take work to restore.
- Because employers continue to be very sensitive to health insurance
costs, HMOs in Massachusetts will continue to try to limit premium
increases—which also means limiting payments to hospitals and
doctors.
Catching up on capital expenditures
- For the eight years that the institution ran a deficit prior
to 2002, investments in the physical plant and equipment had to
be deferred. With a second year of surplus, the hospital is now
able to make delayed and new investments such as the New Research
Building and the Clinical Expansion.
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