The Philadelphia Health Care Market

Paper Summary:

This paper is an in-depth study of the Philadelphia health care market, paying close attention to the unique problems faced by the City of Brotherly Love. The paper begins by providing specific background on the "Philadelphia particulars," and the ways in which they create problems themselves and make some nationwide problems worse for residents of the region. It then examines in more depth the economic ramifications of two issues that have helped to create the dire situation that the city is in: nonprofit versus for-profit providers and insurance companies (particularly HMO's) versus hospitals. Finally, possible solutions, with significant focus on hospital mergers and acquisitions, are suggested that could help Philadelphia turn things around.

From the Paper:

"Pennsylvania hospitals are in sad shape. A quarter of all of the acute-care facilities in the state are losing money, and even those that are coming out ahead are seeing profit-margins shrink. The average total profit margin for hospitals in Pennsylvania decreased from +3.8% in 1997 to +2.7% last year, while operating profit margin dropped from +2.9% to +1.1% over the same year (Hensley 1999b)."

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