Nation’s Hospitals Focus on Financial Stability

What to know about margins, inflation, trends in patient care

September 04, 2024

U.S. hospitals and health systems continue to work toward financial stability after years of uncertainty following the pandemic.

Kaufman Hall’s National Hospital Flash Report outlines the latest trends in care and big-picture issues that affect hospitals.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Margins:  Kaufman Hall's calendar-year-to-date operating margin for U.S. hospitals was 4.1 percent, which is down slightly from the month before.
• Care trends:  Year-to-date, hospitals saw encouraging signs in inpatient revenue (8%) and operating room revenue (9%) per calendar day. Operating room minutes per calendar day also increased 2 percent.
• Cost of care:  Year-to-date, hospitals saw increases in labor (4%), supplies (9%), and drugs (9%) per calendar day. Declines in average length of stay (-1%) have led to lower expenses month-over-month.
• Broader economy:  The U.S. saw encouraging signs in July’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which reached its lowest point in over three years (2.9%) and has been trending down.
  • The unemployment rate slightly increased to 4.3 percent (+0.2 percent) during July.
• Quotable:  “However, while overall hospital performance has been strong, the financial performance of health systems has been trending lower than hospitals alone,” said Erik Swanson, senior vice president, data and analytics, Kaufman Hall.

HAP continues to emphasize the need to support the financial sustainability of hospitals to ensure they can care for their communities. The Kaufman Hall report includes data from 1,300 facilities and is available online.