The Record
Thursday, December 3, 2009
BY LINDY WASHBURN

New Jersey hospitals recorded their worst financial performance of the decade last year, a new report said.

The $18 billion-a-year industry barely broke even, with 23 of 54 hospitals and hospital systems showing operating losses, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association’s annual report, “Financial Status of New Jersey Hospitals,” issued Wednesday.

“Many hospitals — far too many — are barely scraping by,” said Betsy Ryan, the association’s president and chief executive officer. “New Jersey has a state full of hospitals teetering on the edge.”

The ratio of operating revenues to expenses stood at a meager 0.2 percent — down from 1.3 percent last year.

That left almost nothing to invest in better programs or equipment. The association did not provide a hospital-by-hospital breakdown, but suburban hospitals fared better than their urban and rural counterparts, and larger hospitals did better than smaller ones.

“Unfortunately, there’s not much to look forward to for hospitals,” said Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University. The unemployment picture has grown worse, along with the state’s capacity to help hospitals financially.

“Regardless of who won the [governor's] election,” Cantor said, “the state’s budget picture is abysmal, and payments to hospitals are a big part of that picture. There will be enormous pressure to reduce charity-care allocations,” which will heighten the disparity between urban and suburban hospitals.

Read the entire article at northjersey.com