Healthcare chief financial officers are more optimistic about their sector than CFOs in other industries, but remain pessimistic about the overall economy, MedCity News reported.
The survey, published by GE Capital, concluded that healthcare CFOs showed a strong gain in sentiment in the third quarter of 2012 versus the first quarter. Overall, healthcare CFOs gave their industry sentiment a score of 5.8 out of 10 during the third quarter, compared to 5.2 in the first quarter of 2012, MedCity noted.
According to the survey itself, healthcare CFOs also expressed the greatest shift away from the need for layoffs. In the third quarter, only 14 percent of healthcare CFOs said they saw a need for downsizing their organization, down from 27 percent in the first quarter.
And healthcare CFOs also saw the greatest upside for potential growth in their sector: In the third quarter, 38 percent expect growth during the coming months, versus only 25 percent in the first quarter, according to MedCity.
However, 53 percent of healthcare finance executives believe the economy will not grow over the next year, versus 33 percent who believe it will improve.
For more:
- read the MedCity News article
- check out the GE report (.pdf)