America's Road to Wealth

As soon as mid-October passes, the weather in New York changes from hot to cool in an instant.

In two months, New York, with its temperate continental humid climate, will usher in its winter, when the snow will fall.

However, human beings have modern technology. With the help of modern technology, the scorching heat and cold winter have no threat to some human beings who have a lot of resources.

In the warm spring-like conference room of the Smith Tower, Allen Berg was presiding over the daily routine meeting of the think tank. It was almost noon at this time, and when the meeting was about to end, the mobile phone placed beside the conference table buzzed.

After taking a look at it, Allen reached out and pressed down to signal everyone to be quiet, and then picked up the phone.

"Good morning, boss—"

When they heard it was the boss's call, everyone in the conference room couldn't help but their eyes lit up, and they straightened up slightly. I have to say that with Abel's success step by step, he is almost "going to the gods" in today's America.

His subordinates and employees respected him more and more. This is the reality, people always worship the strong and are willing to cling to the strong.

"Huh? Boss, do you want to acquire hospitals locally?"

When Allen heard Abel's new plan on the phone, he couldn't help but frowned slightly. While repeating Abel's new request to his subordinates, he pointed to them and asked them to immediately find out the information about the American hospital. material.

In the conference room, three people immediately tapped the keyboard on the laptop in front of them. It took less than ten seconds to get up and take the laptop, and ran to Allen, and put the laptop on Allen before.

"Boss, according to our database, the 2002 annual hospital survey report updated by the American Hospital Association shows that there are currently 5,055 hospitals in the United States. Among them, community hospitals account for the majority, accounting for 84%, and the rest are non-federal hospitals. Government psychiatric hospitals, federal government hospitals, and other types of hospitals.”

"Among these hospitals, private non-profit hospitals accounted for the most, with 2,904, followed by private for-profit hospitals, with 1,013, and the rest were 1,085 public hospitals affiliated with state and local governments."

"Other types of hospitals are some non-community hospitals, including federal government hospitals, non-federal psychiatric hospitals, non-federal long-term care homes, etc."

"It can be seen from the data that there are almost three times as many private non-profit hospitals as there are private for-profit hospitals and public hospitals respectively. Public hospitals are hospitals that are owned by the federal, state or local governments and receive funding from the government. Covering the operating costs of the hospital, this type of hospital is often more charitable.”

"Private for-profit community hospitals, as the name suggests, are hospitals owned by investors. The largest private hospital chain in the United States is HCA Holdings, which owns 163 hospitals and 110 surgical centers in the United States and the United Kingdom. Bringing the greatest economic benefit. Its current market cap is about $38.5 billion.”

"Our database data shows that hospital expenses account for 32% of the total medical expenses in the United States, making it the largest spender with an average hospitalization cost of $18,000. The hospital industry is the largest in the United States. industry. But it is also the culprit that many people say is driving up the cost of medical care in the United States..."

Allen spoke concisely, picked out some important information from the database, and reported to the boss clearly and quickly.

The chief think tank didn't know why the boss suddenly wanted to buy the hospital.

All along, Abel has invested heavily in medical treatment.

First, two medical research laboratories, Adam and Eve, were successively established.

Not to mention that before that, he had been donating to those famous big hospitals, and he was the big brother of the top five famous hospitals in the United States.

The investment of hundreds of millions of dollars every year makes it convenient for him, his family, and even his subordinates and employees to seek medical treatment in these hospitals.

In his hometown of Tarrant County, there is even a Smith Church Hospital, which has a great reputation in the local area.

But now, Allen feels that the boss's idea of ​​buying a large hospital chain group and running it himself is correct.

He felt that instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars in donations every year, the boss might as well spend more money to take down these hospitals.

Because of the hospital groups, they are extremely important in the American medical complex system and are very profitable.

Not to mention that with their own hospital system, medical research laboratories like Adam and Eve can also get more samples and clinical data, and there will be no loss in all aspects.

"I want to acquire a profitable hospital, preferably a large chain. If it doesn't work, I will buy it. The virus that raged in the big eastern country last year sounded the alarm for me. In the future, similar highly contagious diseases will become more and more common. We can’t just hide every time we encounter such a sudden virus, we must take the initiative, and more importantly, we can have a hospital of our own to protect our health.”

On the phone, Abel's deep and magnetic voice came, making Alan, who had already turned on the speakerphone, and everyone present understand the reason and purpose of his acquisition of the hospital.

Hearing that the boss chose a for-profit hospital, everyone present nodded silently, as if this should be the case. You must know that a for-profit hospital has a name called "investor-owned hospital".

Like investing in other fields, investors invest in hospitals for the purpose of making money, and the money earned belongs to investors.

As for the name of the non-profit private hospital, it sounds like it is serving Americans for free, but in fact it is still for the purpose of making money, but its investment comes from social donations, and the profits do not go to investors.

Seven of the 10 most profitable hospitals in the United States are nonprofits. Since the US hospital industry is a powerful interest group in the US with powerful lobbying capabilities, it has been able to successfully disrupt various policy efforts to control hospital costs.

Relying on their own pricing power and prolonging the medical process, these hospitals use high-cost and high-profit medical equipment, increase the use of consumables, and set up luxurious wards to make profits.

Some hospitals in the United States charge patients 10 times more than the actual cost of treatment.

Like Stanford University Hospital, the annual income of a hospital bed is equivalent to RMB, which is as much as one cool!

In addition to maintaining the operation of the hospital, most of the huge profits are divided up by the interest groups that manage and control the hospital. The annual salary of the director of a non-profit hospital is generally more than one million US dollars, and some even reach more than seven million.

In the United States, a successful hospital, even the most honest hospital, carefully selects patients and services with high profits and returns. Provides the most lucrative cardiac and orthopedic care, and it's happening all over the United States.

Although your own boss has the best private doctor and can enjoy the best medical resources, having it yourself is definitely safer and more worry-free than using someone else's.

"Boss, wait a minute, I'm already asking people to check if there are any suitable acquisition targets."

Allen was talking to Abel about delaying time, and at the same time beckoned his subordinates to find the information quickly. It didn't take long for someone to put another laptop in front of him.

I have to say that there are really many hospitals that are facing bankruptcy or have gone bankrupt.

This is also within reason. Don’t think that because of the high medical expenses in the United States, all hospitals can make money. On the contrary, in the United States, due to the huge amount of hospital advances, the hospital’s advance payment cannot guarantee that the cost will be recovered, and there will be problems with capital turnover. A hospital closed down.

Just because an industry is strong and profitable does not mean that all members of the entire industry will be able to make money.

All over the United States, small, medium and large hospitals in various cities and surrounding areas are closing, or facing difficulties and may be acquired.

"Boss, I've found some suitable ones. Hospitals are now under increasing pressure to lose money, and many hospitals can't handle it. For example, an 80-year-old Williams Hospital in Upper Manhattan, New York City, has applied for bankruptcy and reorganization. If no one takes over, it is very likely that it will be closed in the first half of next year, and many hospitals will have a hard time."

In the United States, both emergency and hospitalization are serviced first and billed later. U.S. law requires hospitals to provide patients with the emergency medical care they need, regardless of the patient's immigration status or whether the patient has money. No matter what the situation is, once you enter the emergency room, a set of tests will be done, and because of the fear of excessive medical lawsuits, emergency doctors in the United States sometimes treat minor illnesses as serious ones, resulting in high medical expenses.

And if the patient does not have medical insurance and has an illegal identity, the result is that the hospital has to pay all the expenses in advance, so that the cost cannot be recovered.

Don't think that the hospital is following the law and medical ethics. In fact, the hospital itself is to blame.

For example, someone fell into a coma due to anemia on the side of the road. In fact, it is not a big problem. It may be better to eat some sugar for a while. But if someone "kindly" calls an emergency, the ambulance will take him to the hospital for an examination, and finally hang up physiological sugar water to fix it.

But after the whole course of treatment, the cost was as high as thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars... Things that could be done for a few hundred dollars turned out to be so expensive in the end.

Can this be blamed on the patient? So much so that authentic native Americans have developed the habit of never taking an ambulance until they die.

Let me talk about a real case. In 2000, a middle-aged lady named Charlotte in New York accidentally bit her finger while feeding a stray cat in a park!

Charlotte immediately went to the hospital to get rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin. The next day the hospital sent the bill to Charlotte's home. As I said earlier, there are laws and regulations that you don't need to pay for medical treatment in the United States. , After seeing the doctor and returning home, the hospital will send the bill to the home the next day, and then pay the bill!

Of course, you don't have to pay the fee, and it's not just the hospital that can make money from you.

There will also be lawyers...

After receiving the bill, Ms. Charlotte was completely dumbfounded when she opened the bill, because the cost given by the hospital was 48,512 US dollars, nearly 50,000 US dollars!

If the hospitals do this, they will inevitably encounter some low-level people who do not have good medical insurance, or even have no medical insurance at all.

Poor disease is a terminal disease, the most difficult disease to treat.

Although some low-income people can apply for government insurance, the insurance provided by the government is limited, and the hospital has to pay in advance for the money that cannot be approved.

Also not all applications are approved. For example, the hospital says that the cost of medical treatment is 2 million, but the US government may only give 1.5 million, and the remaining 500,000 will be paid by the hospital itself.

As a result, some hospitals have a lot of bad debts and bad debts, and they have to go bankrupt and close their doors after the accumulation is hard to recover.

In the United States, even white houses can choose to go bankrupt and shut down. Except for the Federal Reserve, it can be said that anyone can go bankrupt, and hospitals are no exception.

"Then go get in touch with them and buy this hospital. Well... 80 years of history, and it's still in the upper city. I guess the land is worth a lot of money."

Allen waited for the boss to finish speaking, and then from the perspective of the chief think tank, he suggested to his boss: "As you wish, boss, I will ask someone to contact them now."

"However, I have a few words to say. Boss, investing in a hospital has many disadvantages and risks. The first is that the hospital has only one way to do it and cannot transform. Second, the hospital is a long-term project, and the usual return The cycle is six to ten years or even longer, and it takes a long time to invest in high returns. Third, it is usually difficult for hospitals to go public, and they can only rely on annual dividends, and even with dividends, they cannot obtain high profits. Fourth, labor costs are high. Especially the cost of hiring a good doctor, the profit will be greatly reduced."

This is why in the United States, doctors are among the high-income groups alongside lawyers.

"Well, I understand these. Let's contact them first, and other hospitals can also contact them later. What I want is a scale similar to that of HCA, understand?"

"clear."

"That's it for now. I'm still in the hospital. Come back to Smith Tower later and give me a detailed plan."

"no problem."

"Doo-doo-doo"

The sound of hanging up the phone came from the phone. After confirming that the boss had hung up, Allen put down the phone.

He looked at the people in the Smith Intelligence Group, and said directly: "Although we don't know why our boss is suddenly interested in the hospital. But everyone heard the call just now, let's start, everyone, we have new jobs to do !"

Everyone nodded, and started their work with a clear division of labor.

This is a routine in the Smith Intellectual Group.