KPMG’s Media Healthcare Roundtable

I had the pleasure of attending KPMG‘s Media Healthcare Roundtable this morning in downtown Houston. With experts across the healthcare spectrum, KPMG offered a wealth of information on the complexities and future (near term) challenges facing the health care industry, a crucial component of the Texas economy.

Here are some of the topics covered:

• Cyber security – Michael Ebert, Partner, Cyber Services – The health care industry has done a great job getting connectivity across and within providers and devices, the same attention needs to be focused on securing those vulnerable networks.
• Data Analytics – Rob Addison, Managing Director – More data is available now than ever before. This opens opportunities for the industry to learn much about themselves and their peers and quantify best practices across the industry.
• End to End System – Kathleen LePar, Managing Director – There are challenges associated with moving to a whole health system. Many providers are integrating complementary services into their offerings to ensure they participate in the entire value chain.
• Tax – Monica Coakley, Principal, Washington National Tax – There are some major challenges with the regulations outlined in the Affordable Care Act for poor recipients of subsidies. Specifically, tax returns must be filed to reconcile the subsidy and many of these poor do not file tax returns. Many non-profit health care providers are having their local and state tax exempt status challenged and many are losing.
• Mergers and Acquisitions – Darron Gill, Partner, Deal Advisory – A frothy deal environment means more competition for health care deals and higher multiples for entrepreneurs.

We will make sure that we get some of these experts on the show in future episodes to continue the discussion of this fascinating topic.