Hospital growth slows, NLRB issues nursing home union decision

Moody's predicts the slowdown will continue for several years. Meanwhile, the NLRB overturns a 1991 policy on unions in nursing homes.

Modern Healthcare: Not-For-Profit Revenue Growth Slows Down: Moody's
Hospital revenue growth continued to slow down in 2010 and is projected to cool further during the next few years... Median operating revenue and expense growth last fiscal year dropped to a pace not seen in the last decade, said [said Moody's Investors Service's] analysis of 401 not-for-profit hospitals that operate alone or within single-state health systems. Analysts said the weak economy and reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments have strained hospital revenue and will continue to do so (Evans, 8/31).

Modern Healthcare: NLRB Overturns Nursing Home Union Policy
[T]he National Labor Relations Board has voted to overturn a 1991 policy that imposed strict limits and definitions on how union bargaining units are defined in long-term-care facilities like nursing homes. Employers-rights organizations said the NLRB's decision in Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center Mobile would encourage unions-;which have been making inroads in recent years in healthcare facilities-;to define ever-smaller bargaining units and make it easier to organize (Carlson, 8/31).