Proactive But Deliberate

My recent meetings with board members of two different health systems (both non-profit) in two different states were unsettling. Both spoke about an unending sea of red ink (losing “tens of millions” each month). Both chalked up the current financial situation to the post-COVID decrease in the use of hospital-based services (see Digital Transformation? It’s About The Customer…); increased cost of labor (higher salaries and more temporary clinical staff); and the end of federal and state COVID support dollars.

The most recent reporting data found that hospital margins did improve slightly as of last November—but . . .