The portion of hospitals operating at a loss fell from about 50% last fall to roughly 30% in the first quarter of this year, according to a new analysis. One key shift: During the first quarter of this year, the median hospital labor cost fell by 3% compared with the year-earlier period. The figures are based on data from more than 500 hospitals of various shapes and sizes, and come from this report from health-industry analysts at Thomson Reuters . Median revenue per patient continued to increase throughout last year. The problem for hospitals was that

their expenses per patient were rising even faster, even as crashing financial markets hammered many hospitals’ investment income. It’s typical for a significant minority of hospitals to operate at a loss — between 2005 and 2007, the portion of hospitals operating in the red in any given quarter hovered between 20% and 30%. But that 50% figure last year was an outlier. The move back toward the pre-crash range could be a green shoot for the hospital sector. Photo: iStockphoto

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Hospitals Cut Labor Costs, Climb Out of the Red