Public health emergency funding during the COVID-19 pandemic helped hospitals’ net operating margins hit an all-time high, according to a study published in JAMA Health Forum.
The study examined national RAND data and American Community Survey data between 2017 and 2021 to evaluate hospitals’ financial performance during the first two years of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Researchers assessed 4,423 short-term acute care and critical access hospitals.
Eighty percent of the hospitals received public health emergency funds during 2020 and 2021. Seventy-five percent had a positive net operating income during this period. For more than 3,000 hospitals, financial performance improved post-public health emergency; these facilities saw a median net operating income improvement of $5.3 million.
Median operating margins reached an all-time high of 6.5 percent between 2020 and 2021, compared with 2.8 percent margins pre-2020 according to the study. Hospitals saw a median $1.9 million increase in net operating income during this time period, Becker’s reports. Read more.
