Dive Brief:
- Though many hospitals across the U.S. are facing financial struggles, some publicly traded hospitals say the ACA has helped improve their profitability, a Nashville Business Journal blog post reports.
- For example, Community Health Systems Chief Financial Officer Larry Cash told investors that the Tennessee-based organization saw fewer self-pay admissions in states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA. Cash estimates a 4% to 8% drop in such admissions over the next three years.
- Hospital Corporation of America reported similar results, with Medicaid admissions increasing 29% for HCA, as opposed to just 5.9% in states that didn't expand coverage, according to the Business Journal.
Dive Insight:
As these results illustrate, in states where Medicaid expansion has taken place, hospitals have benefited financially. However, there are still a number of states that seem absolutely determined not to take the expansion route. Hospital associations continue to do serious lobbying in these states to see if they can push through an expansion.