Pennsylvania hospitals had an average profit margin of 8 percent in 2021, according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, but many hospitals claim this inaccurately reflects the true state of hospitals' finances due to the amount of pandemic federal relief funds received, PennLive reported July 14.
"The financial reality hospitals experienced — and continue to face — was, in fact, much harsher," according to the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.
The 2021 average profit margin may have doubled that of 2020, but the HAP said hospital end-of-year fiscal figures aren't reflecting the higher costs that are outpacing revenue in Pennsylvania hospitals.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council further revealed that roughly 25 percent of Pennsylvania's acute care hospitals lost money, with another 10 percent of hospitals having profit margins of only 4 percent.
"It is not realistic to compare pandemic-era data with pre-pandemic data," David Sarcone, an associate professor at Carlisle, Pa.-based Dickinson College and former healthcare executive, told PennLive.