Hospitals Experiencing Worst Margins Since Beginning of Pandemic

Kaufman Hall experts said that 2022 is shaping up to be the worst year financially for U.S. hospitals and health systems since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals and health systems saw decreases in outpatient revenue and operating room time and increases in inpatient lengths of stay from June to July, according to Kaufman Hall’s most recent National Hospital Flash Report released yesterday. Hospitals hired more aggressively in July, but labor was still in high demand and prices rose accordingly. Sicker patients also stayed in the hospital longer, driving up costs. The report also stated that an increasing number of patients continue to choose ambulatory centers over hospital settings for surgical procedures, which is a “sign of a larger shift to ambulatory care and new ways of accessing care outside of the hospital.”