The Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) today released its annual report examining the financial health of Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems. The report published examines publicly available fiscal year (FY) 2016 data – the most recent available – that hospitals and health systems are required to submit to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) each year.   

While many financial indicators are relevant to a thorough analysis of financial health, a hospital’s operating margin is the most recognizable bottom-line measure of whether a hospital can continue to meet patient and community needs.    

Minnesota hospitals’ operating margins declined in 2016. The overall median hospital operating margin in Minnesota declined from 2.4 percent in 2015 to 1.7 percent in 2016. This is concerning and reflects the major challenges facing hospitals and health systems in today’s health care environment.   

While 43 of Minnesota’s general acute-care hospitals or health systems generated positive operating margins in 2016, 28 others, or 39 percent, experienced negative operating margins. The number of hospitals with negative operating margins increased from 21 in 2015.   

The median operating margin for urban hospitals was 3 percent, down from 3.6 percent in 2015. For rural hospitals, the median operating margin was 1.1 percent, down from 2.2 percent in 2015.  

Read the full report.