CMS has announced new inpatient payment rates for fiscal year 2010 for both acute care and long-term care hospitals, according to a CMS news release.

The University of Iowa Hospitals expect to end the fiscal year with a $5 million loss, which is less severe than hospitals officials had predicted earlier, according to a report in the Des Moines Register.

Hospitals and health systems, whether general acute care hospitals or specialty hospitals, are attempting to prosper in a challenging time. Last year and in 2007, the nation's hospitals, as a whole, recorded record profits. Many hospitals were examining a multitude…

Pennsylvania hospitals are being hit by the recession as recent data show their total margins dropped to -6.3 percent for the time period July 2008-Dec. 2008, according to a news release from the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

A new study by Health Affairs has found that Medicaid physician fees rose 15 percent from 2003 to 2008, a rate that is outpaced by inflation.

A survey by the American Hospital Association has found that six out of 10 hospitals nationally are seeing a greater proportion of patients without insurance in emergency departments, and nearly half of hospitals have cut staff, according to an AHA…

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has signed House Bill 1293, which would assess hospitals a provider fee to fund medical coverage to the state's uninsured, according to a report by the Colorado Statesman.

Two bills on healthcare reform, proposed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, have passed in the state House and may be decided on by legislators within the next three weeks, according to a report by the Statesman Journal.

A study by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans has found that the recession has caused employers to cut healthcare costs, while employees have increased the use of their benefits, according to an IFEBP news release.

Here are some statistics on the financial health of hospitals and health systems in the United States, according to the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Healthcare Financial Pulse: The Financial Health of U.S. Hospitals and Healthcare Systems, which surveyed 309 hospital…