Report says hospitals are rebounding from recession

Hospitals are starting to rebound from the recession, according to a report released Monday.

Thompson Reuters Corp., a New York-based financial information company, tracked 439 hospitals nationwide – 37 in Texas – covering small, medium and large community hospitals and teaching hospitals.

Among the key findings:

•The percentage of hospital revenue left over after regular business expenses increased from zero in the third quarter of 2008 to 4 percent in the second quarter this year. In Texas, the proportion increased from 6 percent to 8 percent.

•The average number of days that hospitals could run their business with money readily available increased from 90 days in the first quarter to 150 days in the second quarter.

•The number of patients discharged from hospitals – the common way of counting hospital visits – dwindled when the recession started, but now it's growing.

A recession is typically defined as a decline in the country's economic performance for two or more consecutive quarters.

Many economists believe it ended last month.

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