Hospital margins increased an average of 2.4 percentage points year over year in June and 1.3 percentage points month over month, according to Strata’s Monthly Healthcare Industry Financial Benchmarks released July 30.
The results reflect continued high expenses even as revenue grows. Hospitals also saw all patient visit types decreasing, including inpatient admissions at 3.3% and emergency visits dropped 10.4% month over month in June.
Strata surveyed more than 1,850 hospitals to examine margin trends and found health system margins also held steady for the sixth month in a row; median year to date operating margins hit 1.2% for health systems in June.
Overall, drug expenses grew the most at 10% year over year, while hospital revenues rose for both inpatient and outpatient services. Outpatient revenue was up 12.3% while inpatient revenue was up 7% on average.
Margin growth or decline varied by region and hospital size. Here is the breakdown:
- South: 6.1 percentage points
- Midwest: 2.5 percentage points
- Northeast: 1.6 percentage points
- West: -2.2 percentage points
- 0 to 25 beds: -1 percentage points
- 100 to 199 beds: 4.2 percentage points
- 300 to 400 beds: 0.8 percentage points
- 500 or more beds: -0.2 percentage points
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