Hospital Financials Slowly Recovering
November 16, 2009 by letchells
Filed under Business Buzz
The median profit margin of US hospitals increased from near zero in the third quarter of 2008 to more than 8 percent in the second quarter of 2009, according to an analysis of hospital financial performance published November 9 by Thomson Reuters.
The recovery has been broad-based, with all classes of hospitals — small, medial and large community hospitals, teaching hospitals and major teaching hospitals — showing positive median margins, according to the report.
The research tracked two dozen financial indicators, using proprietary and public data to dissect the balance sheets of more than 400 US hospitals. It evaluated trends in revenue and profit, employment levels, closures, inpatient volume, days cash on hand and case mix to gauge the fiscal health of the hospitals.
Also, the researchers found that large community hospitals, which were heavily impacted by declines in the financial markets in 2008, experienced dramatic improvements with only 8 percent of hospitals operating with a negative total margin in the 2009 second quarter. www.healthimaging.com