Fiscal options for America's best hospitals.
A review of America's "best" teaching hospitals shows a huge disparity in their fiscal positions. Among the 15 hospitals studied, roughly half experience some fiscal distress. However, a somewhat similar fiscal analysis of the nation's largest investor-owned hospital chains, HMOs, and physician practice management corporations shows an even more serious weakness in operating margins and debt-equity ratios. Aside from raising possible ethical, quality, and cost issues, this financial analysis suggests that conversion from nonprofit to for-profit ownership of America's top teaching hospitals might not guarantee an improvement in their long-term fiscal outlook.
Weil
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Hospital and Health Services, Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Tpweil@aol.com
Pearl
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D000067:Accounts Payable and Receivable; D002202:Capital Financing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000191:economics; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006777:Hospitals, Proprietary / Q000191:economics; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics; D010067:Ownership / Q000191:economics; D020399:Practice Management / Q000191:economics; D011332:Privatization / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States