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BUSINESSFuture uncertain for investments in specialty hospitalsSome say a new law clouds the potential value for physician investors.By Katherine Vogt, AMNews staff. April 26, 2004. When C. David Joffe, MD, and his group invested in The Dayton Heart Hospital, getting big financial returns wasn't a primary goal. Instead, the interventional cardiologist said they plunked down money so they could have input into how the Ohio heart hospital was run. Now, nearly five years after it opened, Dr. Joffe said the investors have gotten their money back along with a "slight" return. But the financial return isn't the real reward. "The reward is a place that I'm proud to walk into when I go to work and comfortable to go into. And everybody is on the same team," he said. Overall, the investment has been good for him. And Dr. Joffe thinks it will stay that way, despite the recent federal moratorium on new specialty hospitals that has clouded the future of the niche market and left some questioning whether specialty hospital investments are in trouble. Experts disagree about how such investments might be affected by the new law, which was part of the Medicare reform legislation passed by Congress in November 2003. Some say that a provision of the law restricting new investors could jeopardize the long-term value of specialty hospital investments. Others say the legislation has little impact on physician investors who have already put in their money. Dr. Joffe, for one, is not worried. "The moratorium does not affect us anyway. We're up and running," he said. "Once a facility is up and running, you don't need new investors." The law included an 18-month ban on physician billing of Medicare or Medicaid for patients treated at any new specialty hospital in which the doctor has a financial interest. Specialty hospitals already in existence, or those under development by Nov. 18, 2003, were not subject to the referral moratorium. [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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