Essential hospitals – more than 300 of the nation’s largest safety net providers and about 5% of all U.S. acute-care hospitals – provided more than a quarter of all charity care nationally in 2021, but charity and other uncompensated care left these hospitals in the red, according to a new report from America’s Essential Hospitals.
Overall, these hospitals had an average operating margin of -8.6%, compared with -1.4% for all other hospitals, based on Medicare cost report data, Healthcare Finance reports.
Dr. Beth Feldpush, senior vice president of policy and advocacy for America’s Essential Hospitals, said the added pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic deepened long-standing financial challenges, including public payer shortfalls and high uncompensated costs.
“Those challenges remain today and underscore the urgency of stopping cuts to key federal safety net support,” she said. Read more.
