New York non-profit hospitals in the red

You think your budget is tight?  Try being a New York state-based non-profit hospital. The state's 218 non-profit facilities lost a collective $95.4 million in 2005, putting them at 49th in the country for operating margins, according to the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). HANYS said that 56 percent of the state's non-profits are losing money, breaking even or running margins of less than 1 percent, a dismal situation given that non-profits typically need margins of 4 percent or more to fulfill their charitable missions. I'm sure such stats will help get hospitals fired up to join the HANYS political action committee, which helped to block a planned $770 million in 2006 state Medicare cuts. A pessimist might say, though, that a mere PAC can do little to repair the larger structural problems that impact hospitals today.

For more information:
- read the HANYS press release
- read this article in Business First of Buffalo

Related Articles:
- IRS to investigate non-profit hospitals. Article
- At MA hospitals, non-profit CEO pay draws fire. Article
- Non-profits face community benefit scrutiny. Article

Post a comment