Quebec 11/21/2009 7:31:23 AM
Hospitals bouncing back after recession
Recession had hit many sectors, including hospitals.
Recession had hit many sectors, including hospitals. When the economic condition of a country dwindles for more than two consecutive quarters, it is termed as recession. Recent reports state that hospitals are bouncing back from the economic slump.
Thomson Reuters Corp conducted a survey on 439 of hospitals in New York and 37 hospitals in Texas including teaching hospitals and community hospitals. They released their reports last week. They revealed that the revenue generated by hospitals in the second quarter of 2009 is 4 percent. There has been a marked rise from the zero percent revenue generated by the hospitals in the third quarter of 2008. Texas hospitals witnessed a rise of 2 percent. The number of patients admitted in hospitals is on the rise again after the number drastically fell during recession. Now, hospitals can run for approximately 150 days from the money readily available to them. This is an improvement considering that hospitals could not run for more than 90 days during recession.
Although it was presumed that hospitals were recession-proof, the effects were visible. More than 6 million became jobless in this sector since the last quarter of 2007. The unemployment rate had risen to 10.2 percent during recession. Some hospitals did not have the regular schedule of elective procedures from patients during recession. However the dry spell of recession seems to have ended in October 2009.
The health care coverage provided to the unemployed will expire soon according to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. This, in turn, will affect the balance sheets of the hospitals remarked Jeffrey W. Englander, a Standard and Poor’s health care analyst. As stated by the spokesman of Texas health Resources of North Texas, bad debt and charity cost of the hospital system increased due to the increase in the number of underinsured and uninsured patients.
