Hospitals Report Negative Operating Margins as 2017 Ended

Charity Care at Highest Level Since Early 2014

By: KTVZ.COM news sources

PORTLAND, Ore. – As Oregon community hospitals’ costs continued to increase, relative to revenues, operating margins continued their downward trend at the close of 2017, landing at a median of -0.8 percent, which was among the lowest tallied in dozens of years, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems reported Thursday.

According to the newly released quarterly report by Apprise Health Insights on acute care hospitals’ financial and utilization trends, hospital finances statewide are under increasing pressure due to a variety of factors, including market shifts toward outpatient services along with the cost pressures and others.

Hospitals’ aggregate operating margin of -0.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 was lower by more than half a percentage point than the same quarter in 2016, when it was -0.2 percent, the association reported in a news release.

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People's Choice Hospital specializes in managing the unique environment of a hospital with its complicated communication and documentation systems. PCH is led by practicing physicians and hospital administrators with expertise in financially distressed facilities.