Posts Tagged ‘Healthcare reform’

Health Care Reform’s Impact On Hospital Real Estate Development

Authored By: Robert A. Hicks


Part 2 of 2

If it survives the current legal challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, the mandatory coverage aspect of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) will not take effect until 2014.  This timing has the effect of making hospitals tentative about capital deployment in general and for real estate in particular.

Besides timing and uncertainty, there are other aspects of the ACA and the general economic environment that diminish current and short-term spending by hospitals for new real estate development: (more…)

Health Care Reform’s Impact On Hospital Real Estate Development

Authored By: Robert A. Hicks


Part 1 of 2

It seems like yesterday, but we are two years into the “health care reform” era.  The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) became law in March of 2010.  The primary goals of the ACA are three-fold:  increase coverage, reduce the cost of care and improve the quality of care.  Few argue the importance of the objectives.  When Congress passed the ACA:

  • 45 million Americans lacked coverage;
  • Health care constituted a full 16% of GNP (compared to Britain’s 8.4% and France’s 11%);
  • The per capita annual cost of care was $7,290 (about double that of most industrialized countries); and
  • Quality was comparatively poor (as measured by preventable deaths in the US vs. other developed nations). (more…)