AHA blog: What do Break-even Hospital Margins Mean for Patient Care?

“Some analyses seem to suggest that anything above a zero percent margin is inherently bad, as though the operating goal of hospitals and health systems should be to incur financial losses,” write AHA’s Bharath Krishnamurthy, director of policy and health analytics, and Benjamin Finder, director of policy research and analysis. “This would be financially reckless and ignores the reality that hospitals and health systems need some margin to keep pace with new life-sustaining advances in medicine, help support their workforce and continue to keep their doors open to care for their patients and communities.” READ MORE