Nov

12

Hospitals see decline in paying patients, rise in nonpaying

By Case Management Weekly

As emergency departments are filled to capacity with patients who have no insurance or can’t afford care, fewer patients are visiting the hospital who have the ability to pay.

Because of the worsening economy, patients are opting to postpone nonemergency surgeries such as knee replacement or weight-loss surgery, according to The New York Times. These types of surgeries are normally the most lucrative for hospitals, but patients fear costly copayments or missing work for recovery periods.

Gary Taylor, a Citi investment research analyst, conducted a survey in September of 112 nonprofit hospitals. The results showed inpatient admissions were down overall more than 2%, and about 62% of the hospitals surveyed reported flat or declining admissions.

Decreasing admissions are having a large effect on hospitals’ profitability, which may cause hospital administrators to adopt harsher cost-cutting methods.

Source: The New York Times