And we take that pretty seriously. For at least some hospitals, prospective payment may be a boon to the bottom line. In fact, if you can do procedures for less than the APC payment, you can make money. By the same token, it's possible that surgi-centers will be able to take some business from the hospital. APCs will not change the current pattern of consolidation, he believes.
Hospitals are extremely resilient institutions.
In many cases they're the largest employer in the community and they're very difficult to close. Large numbers of hospitals have negative operating margins, and he says reorganization and changes in ownership are more likely. Dr. DeCresce urges pathologists not to lose sight of their basic source of income. If we focus on the technical component changes and how they affect us, we may win the TC battle, and that's great, but that doesn't help us if the hospital is mortally wounded. I'd still be very nervous, because if the hospital goes broke, it doesn't do me much good.