Nonprofit hospitals at a tipping point from mounting challenges

Small and stand-alone nonprofit hospitals are facing mounting pressure from weak operating margins and lower patient volumes, with more signals of stress on the way, according a report released Wednesday from Standard & Poor's Rating Services. "Hospitals have done a pretty good job cutting costs to deal with declining revenues," said Martin Arrick, managing director at S&P. "But in the last year with the additional pressure of volume declines, it's been the straw that is breaking the camel's back." To shoulder the challenges, smaller providers have increasingly sought out mergers with larger health systems in order to "seek scale and efficiencies to offset increasing operating pressures," S&P reported. via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News Read More Here..