First few Article Sentences
Hospitals and other health care employers emerging from the Great Recession continue to confront significant financial challenges in the 2013 economy, made more acute by Medicare reimbursement cuts resulting from sequestration and the uncertainties associated with health care reform. Increased charity care, higher bad debt, and pressures from commercial insurers, all put an ongoing squeeze on the hospital employer’s fiscal performance. Unionized hospitals face additional challenges from unions who are demanding increased wages, reduced employee benefit costs, and job security. The first three months of 2013 have already had a strike by service workers at Providence St. Peter Hospital and informational picketing by nurses and service workers at various hospitals throughout the state. There is heightened tension at the negotiation table this year, and because of that Hospitals will need to be more strategic in achieving contracts that control labor costs, address health care reform uncertainties, and provide competitive pay and benefits for their employees.