A Healthcare System in Crisis: Assessing the Financial Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on American Hospitals

In recent years, the number of hospital closures has steadily increased, which jeopardizes the long-term health of people residing in communities without ready access to hospitals. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a variety of challenges to hospitals across the United States, including the cessation of elective procedures. This paper compares the financial outcomes of American hospitals during the height of the pandemic and the immediately following months, as well as some hospitals’ methods of responding to the financial hardships presented by the pandemic. Through a regression analysis as well as a case study, this paper finds that there are significant differences in the outcomes of hospital profitability and ability to remain open following the hardships presented by the pandemic. These results indicate that there are tangible actions that hospitals of all sizes could undertake in the future to prevent closure or financial vulnerability.