Pennsylvania hospitals see 7.8 percent drop in average margins

It's been a difficult fiscal year for the Pennsylvania's hospitals, whose total margins fell almost 8 percent between July 2008 and March 2009, according to new data from the Hospital & Health system Association of Pennsylvania. 

The average margin for the state's general acute care hospital hit a dismal negative-3.59 percent during that period, down 7.8 percent from the same period overlapping 2007 to 2008. A total of 55 percent of Pennsylvania's hospitals reported having negative total margins, up 31 percent over the previous fiscal year.

These brutal numbers were driven by forces similar to those challenging hospitals elsewhere in the country, including falling volumes of elective surgeries, increases in behavioral health, rising use of emergency departments and expanding numbers of under- or uninsured patients.

To learn more about the HAP report:
- read this HAP press release

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