Hospitals Get Healthier

Moody's has analyzed the financial health of not-for-profit hospitals, and things are looking better. Bad debt is declining even while patient volume is climbing. Whether this will become a trend remains to be seen, but it's clear that non-expansion states are going to face a more difficult healthcare financial environment as time goes on.

"The impact is most evident in states that expanded eligibility for their Medicaid programs. In these states, self-pay patients account for only 3.8% of revenue compared with 9.2% in non-expansion states."