Hospital finances broke even in April amid a continuing trend of high expenses and the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement of the COVID-19 public health emergency

Physician and provider productivity is on the rise as patients continue to reengage and seek out care that was put off during the pandemic.

Hospital finances improved slightly in March as hospital leaders navigate high expenses and economic pressures. While margins continue to stabilize, they remain below pre-pandemic levels—leaving hospitals in a vulnerable position should a recession or new public health emergency arise.

In conversations with hospitals and health system leadership across the U.S., most management teams express the same goal: get back to breakeven. For many, the road to breakeven will be bumpy with gains and setbacks along the way.

Hospital finances are beginning to stabilize as razor thin margins become the new normal. The high level of variance that plagued hospital margins over the past three years is beginning to subside among pricing and inflationary pressures affecting expenses.

Hospitals entered 2023 on more stable footing, following the worst financial year since the start of the pandemic. However, they still face a range of persistent challenges, including higher labor expenses, lower patient volumes, and a fundamental shift in where patients access care services.

America's providers are more productive and seeing more patients than ever—particularly in primary care settings—resulting in an increase in revenue in the last quarter of 2022. However, increased expenses outweighed improved revenue.

Last year was the worst financial year for hospitals and health systems since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest data from Kaufman Hall.