Report: Hospital and health system margins off to a bad start in 2022

Hospitals’ and health systems’ median operating margins declined by 11.8% in February and 26.7% year over year, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall based on data from more than 900 hospitals.  

“The median Kaufman Hall Operating Margin Index reflecting actual margins for the month was -3.45%, up from -4.52% in January but still well below sustainable levels,” the report notes. “Recovery from the Omicron surge likely will continue to be slow in the coming months, and hospitals could face additional setbacks if other variants — such as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant — lead to new surges.”