2023 will likely be a year of upheaval and market transformation for hospitals bouncing back from a financially distressing 2022 amid several post-pandemic headwinds, analysts said in recent reports.
With costs up, liquidity down and bond covenants potentially in jeopardy, the industry should expect upticks in merger and acquisition activity, “non-traditional partnerships,” further divergence between value-based care and fee-for-service entities and plenty of public health emergency administrative headaches on the horizon for health systems, analysts said.
The early numbers on health systems’ 2022 financial performance are not encouraging, Fierce Healthcare reports.
In a note last week focused on rated nonprofit hospitals that report their full-year earnings halfway through the calendar year, Fitch Ratings highlighted “barely breakeven” median margins due in part to an 11.1% increase in labor costs. Read more.
