hospital financial performance

Loss of Insurance Options Hitting Hospital Bottom Lines

Hospitals are starting to feel the impact of the loss of enhanced subsidies for the purchase of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. According to officials from a number of for-profit hospital companies, they have been surprised at how few patients who lost their Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies have purchased alternative coverage, leaving them uninsured instead. Nearly three million fewer people purchased insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges this year than last year. Such individuals continue to turn to hospitals for care – increasingly, for care they put off because they were uninsured, resulting in greater acuity. Hospitals [...]

joe2026-08-05T12:54:53-04:00August 7, 2026|Affordable Care Act, hospitals|

Hospitals Had a Rough January

Hospitals’ financial performance in January of 2026 suffered in comparison to that in January of 2025, according to a recent report. The report found that: Discharges fell two percent. Emergency department visits were off five percent. Average length of stay declined three percent. Expenses rose five percent. Labor costs increased five percent. Bad debt and charity care rose eight percent. Learn more about how the new year brought financial challenges to hospitals from the Healthcare Dive article Hospitals’ financial performance off to a shaky start in 2026: report.

joe2026-03-25T10:29:31-04:00March 27, 2026|hospitals|

Hospital Financial Progress in Jeopardy

While hospitals and health systems in general continue to move closer to their pre-pandemic level of financial performance, they now face challenges that threaten to undermine that progress. While they have slowly gotten their labor costs under control, providers now face rising non-labor costs, including for drugs and supplies. Meanwhile, two recent policies enacted by Congress may pose an even greater threat. New limits on Medicaid eligibility threaten to transform manageable losses from under-reimbursement for Medicaid services into uncompensated care at the same time that the elimination of enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance premium subsidies could turn lower-income working families [...]

joe2025-10-14T14:19:03-04:00October 15, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, hospitals, Medicaid|

Non-Profit Hospitals See Improved 2024 Financial Performance

Non-profit hospitals performed better financially in 2024 than they did in 2023, according to a new analysis by Fitch Ratings. Attributing the improved performance to improved volume and revenue and reduced upward pressure on labor costs, Fitch found that the median operating margin among non-profit hospitals rose from -0.5 percent in 2023 to 1.2 percent in 2024. Although improved, non-profit hospital financial performance has not returned to its pre-pandemic levels. Even so, they appear to have survived the unwinding of increased pandemic-era Medicaid enrollment, with Medicaid’s median share of their gross patient revenue declining only from 16.6 percent to 16.2 [...]

joe2025-04-01T11:25:22-04:00April 2, 2025|hospitals|

Hospitals End 2024 in Encouraging Financial Position

Hospitals finished 2024 in generally good financial condition, according to a new report. Hospital net revenue rose six percent in 2024 and outpatient revenue was up 10 percent, according to the report. With expenses rising but at a rate lower than inflation, hospitals ended 2024 with average operating margins of 7.6 percent – their highest rate for the year. At the same time, however, bad debt and charity care increased, most likely because of the contraction of Medicaid eligibility following the end of pandemic-related eligibility expansion and the continued trend of insurers denying care. Thus, while the short-term financial outlook [...]

joe2025-02-04T15:13:21-05:00February 6, 2025|hospitals|

Hospital Margins Expected to Remain Low Next Year

Labor costs that outstrip increases in reimbursements will lead hospitals to continue to have low operating margins through 2025, according to Moody’s, the bond and credit rating company. While the growth of hospital labor costs is no longer as great as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moody’s reports, labor costs continue to grow – as do supply costs. Meanwhile, reimbursements are not keeping pace, with government payments especially lagging. As a result of these factors, hospital margins and operating cash flow margins are down and prospects for recovery in the coming year are only modest. Learn more about how [...]

joe2024-10-23T10:59:15-04:00October 23, 2024|hospitals|

Improved Prospects for Non-Profit Hospital Finances in 2024

Non-profit hospitals should see generally improved financial performance in 2024, according to Moody’s Investor Services. Driving improved performance, according to the rating company, will be increased reimbursement that outpaces rising labor costs; increased volume, especially in the delivery of higher-margin outpatient care; and improved Medicaid payments in some states. Also helping improve hospital financial performance will be better use of IT, more use of telehealth, improved workflow, and better use of external resources for improving revenue cycle management. Learn more about what Moody’s sees ahead for non-profit hospitals in 2024 from the Fierce Healthcare article “Nonprofit hospital sector to stabilize [...]

iqtsupport2023-11-14T13:00:35-05:00November 14, 2023|hospitals|

Prospects Mixed for Non-Profit Hospitals in 2019

There’s good news and bad news for non-profit hospitals in 2019, according to Fitch Ratings, the bond-rating company. The good news: For many, major IT investments have been completed. Many have adjusted to the reality of falling inpatient volume. Many that saw reduced margins as a result of launching, purchasing, or participating in provider-sponsored plans to compete in health exchanges have scaled back those efforts. The bad: profits and margins may continue to decline – but those declines will not be as steep as they have been in recent years. Reimbursement may be weaker, too. Learn more from the Fierce [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-01T10:17:11-04:00April 1, 2019|hospitals|

Medicaid Expansion Helps Save Hospitals

Hospitals in states that took advantage of the Affordable Care Act to expand their Medicaid programs are six times less likely to close than hospitals in non-expansion states. And the impact of Medicaid expansion is even more beneficial for hospitals that serve rural communities. These are among the new findings in a new study that examines the effect of Medicaid expansion on hospital finances and hospital closures. Among those findings, We found that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion was associated with improved hospital financial performance and substantially lower likelihoods of closure, especially in rural markets and counties with large numbers of [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-10T06:00:57-05:00January 10, 2018|Affordable Care Act, hospitals, Medicaid|

Fitch: Stable Outlook for Health Care in 2018

Despite a number of potential threats, Fitch Ratings predicts a stable financial environment for the health care industry in 2018. Fitch’s warns, though, of “outside disruptions” that could threaten that stability. Among those potential disruptions are tax reform legislation, government regulations, Amazon’s rumored entry into the industry, and advances in technology. The company predicts that ratings downgrades will exceed upgrades in the coming year. Learn more about Fitch’s predictions in this Healthcare Dive article.

iqtsupport2017-12-07T06:00:07-05:00December 7, 2017|Uncategorized|