Robert FrombergEditor-in-Chief, HFMA
A comparison of two HFMA News stories in the last two days offers a striking commentary on the competing pressures and perspectives surrounding the financial well-being of hospitals, with yesterday's story seeming to paint a rosy picture of hospitals' financial health, and today's story painting a dire picture.
Today's story tells of Illinois not-for-profit hospitals protesting a bill that would require them to contribute 8% of operating costs to charity care--in essence, asking for more tangible, quantifiable evidence of community benefit. In response, the state hospital association has documented the significant community benefit already provided by state hospitals, and the association president warns that the law will push many hospitals already in the red to the brink of disaster, and will push many hospitals that are in the black into the red.
In contrast, yesterday's story summarizes the recent Standard & Poor's report that appears to depict hospitals' financial health in glowing terms, predicting "substantial improvement in credit quality" for 2006 and strong capital spending.
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