A new annual report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council on the financial health of the state's hospitals found that total margins, which include investment income, fell from 4.7% in fiscal 2008 to 2.08% in fiscal 2009. The average operating margin fell less, from 3.99% in fiscal 2008 to 3.52% last fiscal year. Forty-four percent of the hospitals reporting to the state agency had negative total margins, up from 30% the previous year. Hospital consultants said margins likely were improving now as the stock market rises, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
