| This study examines rural southern hospitals that are part of a multi-hospital system. Using AHA data, three financial variables: cash-on-hand, operating margin, and return on equity serve as dependent variables in the analysis of covariance models. The treatment variable is the profit/non-profit status of the hospital and the covariate is the size of the hospital, as measured by the number of hospital beds. Results indicate that for-profit rural hospitals, on average, keep 27.26 fewer days of cash on hand than non-profit hospitals. Operating margins and return on equity are larger for profit than for non-profit hospitals, an average difference of 5.6% and 8.36% respectively. |
Updated 02/23/2014