TRENDS: Are hospitals emerging from the Great Recession?

In Pennsylvania, general acute care hospitals admitted about 1.7 million inpatients in FY2011.  This was down a bit from the number of admissions over the preceding 8 years, but in line with the late 1990s.  Inpatient days and average length of stay have both declined in an almost straight-line fashion from the late ’90s to the present.  Interesting charts on financial trends show the effect of the Great Recession on hospitals, especially the drop in non-operating income and total margin in FY2009.  Pennsylvania hospitals have made inroads on improving days in accounts receivable, which have plummeted from about 68 days in FY1999 to 41 days in FY2011.  This report includes selected data on individual hospitals as well as the statewide totals.

Source: Financial Analysis 2011: An Annual Report on the Financial Health of Pennsylvania’s Hospitals.  Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment, May 2010, Vol. 1: General Acute Care Hospitals, p. 10.  Click here for full text free : http://www.phc4.org/reports/fin/11/docs/fin2011report_volumeone.pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org