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Recession Taking Toll on Hospitals
by Jon Greenberg on
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Eighty-five percent of New Hampshire hospitals continue to experience declining financial health as a result of the economic recession, despite implementing such cost-saving measures as cutting administrative expenses and staff, according to a survey released today by NHHA.
The majority of hospitals reported increases in the number of uninsured patient visits to their emergency departments (60%), uncompensated care (70%) and the number of patients covered by Medicaid or other public programs for low-income populations (53%). Also, 43% reported that their ability to access capital to make facility upgrades and clinical and information technology improvements has not improved, while 48% said it is getting worse.
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With hundreds of thousands of jobless people about to run out of all benefits, congress has moved to extend unemployment benefits by 14 weeks nationwide for those whose relief has run out, and up to 20 weeks in states — 26 currently — where the unemployment rate is over 8.5 percent.
For the moment, the extra 14 weeks is the number that applies in NH.
The legislation also continues the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers for another five months. It creates a new $6,500 tax credit for certain homeowners who want to buy another home.
At a recent talk to the Business and Professional Women organization I focused on two related issues: If this recession was our Katrina, how much damage did it inflict on the economic infrastructure? One thing we don't know is when credit markets will recover.
So it was with some interest that I read this article in the Washington Post. I think it captures our current economic situation, nationally, and points our eyes in the right direction as we look for signs of true recovery.
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