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US hospitals feeling financial strain of coronavirus pandemic

by John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | March 23, 2020
Business Affairs

Still, providers expect to incur great losses, already losing revenue to mandated cancellations in elective surgeries. New York-Presbyterian Hospital estimates a negative impact on operations of between $350 million and $700 million in its unconsolidated 2020 financial statements, brought on by a number of potential scenarios, including no assistance from the government or any insurance recoveries.

“Financial markets have experienced unprecedented turbulence in the last two weeks, attributable to: (i) the potential impact of COVID-19 on world economies; (ii) oil prices; and (iii) the possibility of an economic recession in the United States,” said the NYC health system in a voluntary disclosure letter. “This may affect the returns on the Guarantor’s [New York-Presbyterian Hospital] investments and therefore, it is possible that the Guarantor will experience lower returns than the returns reflected in its recent financial statements.”

In addition, six of Vermont’s 14 hospitals previously reported last summer that they expected a deficit by the end of the 2020 fiscal year. These concerns have only inflated with the spread of the virus to the point where Green Mountain Care Board, which regulates the state’s hospital budgets, is postponing finalization of its budget framework for the next fiscal year, according to Vermont Public Radio.

“They're looking at losses of about a million dollars a week — is their projections through this,” Franklin County Sen. Corey Parent told VPR in reference to one hospital, Northwestern Medical Center. “I'm sure UVM Medical Center and some other hospitals would see larger [losses]. Are we looking at how we're going to support them and keep the doors open through this?”

The Herald-Leader reports that rural health systems in Kentucky face severe disadvantages due to many areas lacking ICU beds for severe cases and limited information about the capacity of Kentucky’s rural hospitals.

“We need better information and statistics from the Kentucky Hospital Association, as an example, and the Kentucky Office of Rural Health about the capacity of these rural hospitals and clinics to really handle these issues,” said Borders. “It’s not as if we have a lot of great information about the urban hospital capacity, but we have even less information about rural hospitals and health care systems.”

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