- The Biden Administration proposed a new rule to strengthen mental health parity under health care plans. The proposed rule, if finalized, would require health plans to provide members with equal access to behavioral health services. The rule also requires health plans to study the impact of plan restrictions on access to mental health and substance use disorder benefits.
- A new article from KFF News highlights how property tax benefits given to non-profit hospitals can negatively impact a community. The article focuses on the impact of property tax exemptions given to a hospital in Pennsylvania and how the loss of property tax revenue in one community is impacting its school system.
- Harris Health System in Texas is pursuing a November ballot measure to secure public approval for a roughly $2.9B capital plan. The plan includes a new $1.6B hospital on the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital campus and $400M to renovate the existing hospital. Approximately $1B will be used to renovate the Ben Taub Hospital.
- California’s seismic requirements that go into effect in 2030 will have a big impact on hospitals within the state. California is already one of the most expensive states to build a hospital. The new seismic requirements will add even more costs to new hospital projects.
- According to a new report, at least 40 health care companies have filed for bankruptcy protection in the first half of 2023. The filings this year are trending higher than in previous years. In 2022, only 46 health care companies filed for bankruptcy protection. If the trend continues, it’s possible that over 80 health care organizations will file for bankruptcy protection this year. That would be a 74% increase over the number of filings in 2022 and three times the number of filings in 2021.
- According to PWC’s mid-year real estate outlook, commercial real estate deal activity is slowing down due to higher interest rates, and changes in post-pandemic work and lifestyle preferences. In Q1 of 2023, transaction volume was down across all subsectors with office transactions down 68%, multifamily down 64%, hospitality down 55% and industrial down 54%.
- A state lawmaker in Alabama publicly criticized the state’s Certificate of Need (“CON”) law. The lawmaker noted that health care providers spend a significant amount of money to pursue and challenge CONs, which is a waste of valuable health care resources. A bill introduced in 2022 to eliminate Alabama’s CON program didn’t receive enough support to pass.
- According to a Wall Street Journal article, occupancy at senior housing facilities has been affected, in some cases, by work-from-home and hybrid work schedules. More flexible work schedules allow caretaking adults to more easily supervise and check in on aging parents. In some cases, families are delaying their decision to move parents into senior housing facilities.
- Tennessee Oncology, a major cancer-care provider, is constructing a new $120M medical center and corporate headquarters in downtown Nashville. The 200,000-square-foot facility will offer a range of medical services. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
- Intermountain Health has requested permission to rezone a 9-acre site in Salt Lake City that was previously used as a Sears retail facility. While plans have not been filed for the site, Intermountain has expressed an interest in developing a new urban hospital in Salt Lake City.
For more information on real estate matters, please contact:
- Andrew Dick at adick@hallrender.com or (317) 977-1491;
- Joel Swider at jswider@hallrender.com or (317) 429-3638; or
- Your primary Hall Render contact.
Special thanks to Gabriel Vaughn, undergraduate intern, for his assistance in the preparation of this article.
Hall Render blog posts and articles are intended for informational purposes only. For ethical reasons, Hall Render attorneys cannot give legal advice outside of an attorney-client relationship.
