Utilization of Asset/Cost Approach in Appraising Outpatient Enterprises
Healthcare related outpatient enterprises provide services that do not require hospital admission and may be performed outside the premises of a hospital. Similar to the valuation of any business, valuations of outpatient enterprises should include consideration of the three general approaches to valuation (i.e., the income approach, the market approach and the asset/cost approach). The specific valuation methods selected under each engagement will be guided by the facts and circumstances surrounding the hypothetical transaction of the subject property interest (e.g., availability of data, nature of the current transactional marketplace). This article focuses on utilizing the asset/cost approach to value outpatient enterprises, while the other articles in this series addressed the use of an income approach and a market approach to value outpatient enterprises. (Read more...)

Threshold of Commercial Reasonableness: The Qualitative Analysis
Due to the heightened legal and regulatory scrutiny of healthcare related transactions, the issuance of commercial reasonableness opinions is a growing area of focus for professional advisors and consultants in the healthcare industry. As set forth in the previous installment of this three-part Health Capital Topics series on commercial reasonableness, there is no single, universally accepted definition of commercial reasonableness; however, guidance for its interpretation can be gleaned from case law, as well as various statutes and regulations. A commercial reasonableness analysis should contain both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the elements of the anticipated transaction where both the individual merits of each factor and the interaction between the factors are jointly considered in assessing the commercial reasonableness of the anticipated transaction. This article focuses on the qualitative analysis of a commercial reasonableness opinion. (Read more...)

ACO Quality Improvement Methods
Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, the healthcare industry has seen a renewed emphasis on the quality and efficiency of providing healthcare services. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) in particular have been a popular model for implementing innovative ideas, in part due to their focus on "coordinated, high quality care" and financial incentives for achieving quality care benchmarks. The last article in this three-part Health Capital Topics series focusing on ACO quality trends will describe the methods ACOs are using to achieve quality care. (Read more...)

The Advancement Toward Personalized & Evidence-Based Medicine
This article is the first in a four-part Health Capital Topics series focusing on the various public health issues associated with population health. This series describes the vital role population health plays in the healthcare industry and will highlight four emerging trends in population health. Both population health and clinical medicine are necessary partners in preserving an efficient and effective healthcare system, by integrating preventative measures into disease control and management. This article will discuss two of the emerging methods in population health management, personalized medicine, also referred to as individualized medicine, as well as evidence-based medicine. (Read more...)