Report finds hospitals rebound from recession

Hospitals are beginning to rebound from the recession, which many economists think ended last month. The Dallas Morning News reports: "Thompson Reuters Corp., a New York-based financial information company, tracked 439 hospitals nationwide - 37 in Texas - covering small, medium and large community hospitals and teaching hospitals" to create a report released Monday that showed the change.

"Among the key findings: The percentage of hospital revenue left over after regular business expenses increased from zero in the third quarter of 2008 to 4 percent in the second quarter this year."

The Thompson Reuters analysis also found that the "average number of days that hospitals could run their business with money readily available increased from 90 days in the first quarter to 150 days in the second quarter." Hospital patient discharges - "the common way of counting hospital visits" - decreased  with the onset of the recession, "but now it's growing. ... Hospitals once were thought to be recession-proof, but they've been hurt by the 10.2 percent unemployment rate and the 6 million jobs lost since December 2007" (Roberson, 11/9).