Healthcare Cost Drivers CMS found that overall healthcare spending growth has decreased slightly but is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels and is expected to continue to moderately grow. This article examines the factors underlying the forecasts. On June 25, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its forecast on U.S. healthcare spending through 2033. The analysis, published in Health Affairs, estimated healthcare spending growth in 2024 and projected the growth into 2033. CMS found that overall healthcare spending growth has decreased slightly but is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels, and is expected to continue to…
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Under Complex Considerations In Part I of this series, the article presented the fundamental standards used to gain a basis of understanding renewables and valuation drivers. These were presented in the context of an appraisal of wind rights and what would be included, as an example, in a valuation engagement. This second article focuses on the diminution of land values resulting from collateral damage from wind turbines and solar siting and placement impacting highest and best use of the subject property. In Part I of this series, the article presented the fundamental standards used to gain a basis of understanding…
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Valuation Implications The U.S. government is the largest payor of medical costs, through Medicare and Medicaid, and consequently has a strong influence on reimbursement to healthcare providers. The 2025 proposed fee changes are significant. This article focuses on the proposed fee changes and how these changes may affect valuations of healthcare practices. The U.S. government is the largest payor of medical costs, through Medicare and Medicaid, and consequently has a strong influence on reimbursement to healthcare providers. The prevalence of these public payors in the healthcare marketplace often results in their acting as a price setter and being used as…
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Beyond Prescription Drug Costs On August 16, 2022, President Joseph Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) into law. The broad bill, which covers healthcare, taxes, and climate change, had been passed around Congress in assorted versions with varying support for months, but under the specter of a record 40-year-high inflation rate, congressional Democrats ultimately came together to pass the IRA; no Republicans voted for the bill. Although the IRA is anticipated to result in $485 billion in total spending, the law actually stands to lower the U.S. deficit by approximately $300 billion across the next 10 years.…