Prognosis
Hospitals Plead for Bailout in Face of Runaway Pandemic Bills
- The 2021 revenue hit could top $120 billion, report predicts
- Even best-case scenario would result in $53 billion deficit
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U.S. hospitals face up to $122 billion in lost revenue this year as the pandemic continues its rampage, threatening to push more critical-care centers into bankruptcy or out of business entirely.
Even a best-case scenario would cost hospitals $53 billion of revenue, according to a new Kaufman, Hall & Associates report for the American Hospital Association. That’s on top of more than $323 billion in reduced revenue and higher expenses last year. U.S. hospitals were already hard-pressed before the Covid-19 outbreak, especially in poor and rural regions, with more than 30 going bankrupt in the year preceding the pandemic.