As increased costs weighed on hospital operators in the first quarter, the nation’s largest insurers saw profits and revenues rise alongside growing membership bases, Healthcare Dive reports.
The performance spurred payers to raise financial expectations, painting an improved financial outlook for the full year compared to earlier estimates for 2022.
On the other hand, the omicron variant exacerbated challenges for providers as both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations reached all-time highs in January. Facing increased cost pressure, partly due to pricier labor, some for-profit health systems have lowered financial estimates for the year, including HCA Healthcare, one of the largest systems with 182 hospitals. Read more.
