New York hospitals rank 49th

Here’s a revealing note from the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), posted yesterday on its website.

A recent HANYS analysis of hospital financial data found that more than half of…[New York] state’s hospitals lost money or recorded margins of less than 1% in 2006. A separate national study by the American Hospital Association (AHA) found that the average operating margin of New York’s hospitals ranked 49th in the nation in 2006, second only to Hawaii...

Weak hospital margins and losses are primarily attributable to governmental and private insurance reimbursement rates that are artificially low and in some instances more than a decade out of date. Perennial federal and state funding cuts, along with workforce shortages and rising costs for everything from blood products to liability insurance also exacerbate ongoing revenue challenges…

See my posting of two weeks ago about the shortfall in payments to Community General Hospital by Medicare.