Hoosier hospital officials say 2022 was their worst year financially since the start of the pandemic.
The Indiana Hospital Association shared that during a virtual conference Wednesday and outlined some of the challenges ahead.
In a worst-case scenario, this could cause some facilities to close.
IHA stated that Indiana hospitals lost approximately $72 million in income last year. Experts both locally and statewide anticipate 2023 will be another difficult year.
"For 2022, we will finish up our year with a negative operating margin of about 1.1%... that translates into about $14-million-dollar loss for us in 2022. That's the first loss in our history," said Kreg Gruber, Beacon Health System C.E.O.
The loss was driven by a decrease in revenue with an increase in inflation, drug expenses, and labor costs.
As a result, Beacon decided to move away from temporary nursing agencies.
"We made a conscious decision to pay our nurses more to keep the nurses who live in our community working in our communities. And that's paid off for us, but it cost us dearly," said Gruber.
Medicaid and Medicare patients have come back to almost pre-pandemic levels, but Gruber says that program doesn't cover the complete cost of care.
At Woodlawn Hospital, 60% of all births are paid through Medicaid. That only covers about 53% of the total cost, according to C.E.O. Alan Fisher.
"We do not want the maternity deserts that are growing in our region to become larger, but we also must evaluate closing our own unit which loses almost $2-million dollars annually,” said Fisher.
Fisher and other hospital leaders are asking state legislators for financial assistance to help keep safety-net hospitals running.
"It's good that we have H.I.P. [Healthy Indiana Plan] for so many who do not have insurance or have other options, but these half increases on our hospitals are not sustainable," said Fisher.
The Indiana Hospital Association says Hoosiers would see the biggest impact on access to care at some of the hospitals, which could also increase wait times.