Profits for Pa. hospitals plunged during first COVID-19 wave PennLive.com 1 hr ago David Wenner, pennlive.com
Nearly 40% of Pennsylvania hospitals lost money in the 2020 fiscal year, which included the state’s first wave of COVID-19 cases. Another 18% had operating margins of 4% or less below the level hospitals say they need to make repairs and upgrades and sustain a financially healthy operation.
While COVID-19 put thousands of people in the hospital, it also triggered a state-imposed moratorium on elective surgeries, which are a major source of profit for hospitals.
Moreover, hospitals said many people put off medical care and avoided going to hospitals and doctors’ offices out of fear of coming into contact with COVID-19.
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COVID-19 hospitalization rates were lower than the state rate in Luzerne County and all but two neighboring counties last year, from the onset of the pandemic in March through September, according to a new report.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council released two briefs Wednesday looking at hospitalizations per 10,000 residents in all 67 counties. The state rate was 19.9 per 10,000 in the seven-month period reviewed. The rate in Luzerne County was 18.5.
Of the seven adjacent counties, only Monroe and Lackawanna counties had rates higher than the state rate, 21.6 and 20.6 per 10,000, respectively. Monroe County had been a regional hotspot through much of the pandemic.