A new report from the American Hospital Association indicates hospitals are continuing to struggle financially due to the economic depression.
The AHA survey, released Wednesday, shows that 34 percent of hospitals expect to report losses in the first half of 2009, up from 29 percent for the same period last year, and indicators of the ability of hospitals to meet their financial obligations are slipping.
Hospitals report that more patients are appearing in emergency rooms without insurance, fewer patients are seeking elective services, and nine in 10 hospitals have had to make cutbacks to address economic concerns.
Other results of the survey include:
- A higher proportion of patients are unable to pay for care and many hospitals are seeing more patients covered by Medicaid and other public programs for low income populations.
- Community need for subsidized services such as clinics, screenings and outreach is increasing even as charitable contributions are down for many hospitals.
- More than half of the hospitals surveyed have reduced staff.
- Eight in 10 have cut administrative expenses.
- One in five have reduced services that communities depend on, including behavioral health, post acute care, clinic, patient education and other services that require subsidies.
Despite the actions hospitals have taken to weather the economic storm, seven of 10 hospitals reported a decline in overall financial health which will impact their ability to care for their communities, the AHA's study said.
Some hospitals reported they are beginning to see improvement in the capital situation since December of last year. Yet since the beginning of 2008, seven in 10 hospitals have cut capital spending for facility upgrades, clinical technology and/or information technology.
Eight in 10 hospitals report an increase in the degree to which physicians are seeking the financial support of hospitals including on-call pay and/or employment.
The survey was based on surveys sent to all community hospital CEOs in August 2009. Data was collected through Sept. 8, with 768 responses received.
The AHA said respondents were broadly representative of community hospitals.