How is US Hospital Margins constructed?
Published by Deepstory Research as the methodology attached to US Hospital Margins. Scope and source attribution are bounded by that Evidence Brief.
Procedure and scope
Operating margin is the Kaufman Hall National Hospital Flash Report median, which excludes non-operating income (investment returns) and therefore differs from bottom-line net margin. Where a figure is "adjusted year-to-date" that is stated in the value_basis. The median and the share-in-the-red are different measures and can move independently: a strong quarter at large systems lifts the median without pulling the loss-making tail above zero. CAVEAT: 2020–2023 full-year medians are not published in the cited releases (2021 is available only as a single March monthly reading, and a monthly value is not comparable to an annual one), so the margin chart carries only 2024 and 2025. Re-verified 2026-08-10.
Known failure modes and limits
- Rural versus urban or by-system breakdowns.
- Total margin including investment income.
- The drivers — labour cost, payer mix and volume are not seeded.