U.S. and international accounting rule makers are planning to propose an overhaul of lease accounting which is expected to affect $1.2 trillion in leased assets. Accounting rules have normally given companies a lot of flexibility in how they record leases for assets. As a result, only certain types of leases…Read more

According to the University of California, San Francisco, emergency room visits to U.S. hospitals increased more than 23 percent from 1997 to 2007, which is double what researchers expected the rise would be based on population growth. Relatively low reimbursements to physicians who care for patients on Medicaid, the federal-state…Read more

According to Moody’s Investors Service, the recent 0.4 percent net reduction in inpatient hospital rates announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for federal FY11 is “an unambiguous credit negative for not-for-profit hospitals and a key driver to our maintaining a negative outlook for the industry.” On Oct.…Read more