"Three out of five hospitals are underwater, and the fourth is on thin ice," says Bea Grause, RN, JD, president, Healthcare Association of New York State.
Across the state of New York rising care delivery costs and continuing workforce shortages are forcing hospitals to reduce or eliminate services to maintain their bottom lines, while more patients lose access to care.
Forty-nine percent of hospitals report reducing and/or eliminating services to mitigate staffing challenges, although they are ensuring their most critical services remain in place, according to research from a survey by several New York hospital associations: Critical Condition. All the hospitals surveyed have reported nursing shortages they cannot fill, while over 75% said that other key worker positions cannot be filled. Sixty-four percent of New York hospitals have reported a negative operating margin and 85% report negative or unsustainable operating margins of less than 3%.
"Hospital margins are absolutely going in the wrong direction, and everyone should be alarmed," Wendy Darwell, president and CEO, Suburban Hospital Alliance of New York State, said in an email release. "The pandemic and recent natural disasters have proven we need strong, well-resourced hospitals that are ready for anything. New Yorkers are better off when their hospitals are thriving."
The New York hospital associations are looking to local, state, and federal leaders to help stem the financial crisis currently plaguing organizations as they deal with the tripledemic of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19, as well as a worsening mental health crisis.
"Three out of five hospitals are underwater, and the fourth is on thin ice," Bea Grause, RN, JD, president, Healthcare Association of New York State said in the release. "We face a very real danger of hospitals closing, patients losing care, healthcare workers losing their jobs, and communities losing their lifeblood. The state and federal governments must immediately provide new funding, enact common-sense policy changes and make no cuts to existing vital healthcare funding."
Hospitals are asking for more help in stopping the labor crisis and for officials to make healthcare employees a top priority.
"Workforce shortages are causing vacant positions to go unfilled and services to be cut. Policymakers must immediately invest in the healthcare workforce and our hospitals to ensure they can serve their communities for years to come," Gary J. Fitzgerald, president, and CEO, Iroquois Healthcare Association, said in the release. "Hospitals’ labor costs are forever changed. Without help, they face hard choices with dire consequences."
Amanda Schiavo is the Finance Editor for HealthLeaders.