Health system margins grew slightly in August to hit 1% again after dipping in July, according to Strata. The data analytics firm collected information from 1,850 hospitals and 1350,000 physicians to gauge healthcare financial trends. Health system margins have hovered around 1% all year after hitting 2.1% in December. Hospital operating margins have been relatively flat as well.

Five things to know: 1. Average hospital margins were up 0.2 percentage points year over year in August, but dropped 0.5% from July. “The stagnant margin performance for both hospitals and health systems reflects the ongoing financial strain created by persistent expense pressures across the healthcare sector,” the report notes. 2. The average operating margin change year over year varied by market:

Midwest: 0.

See Full Page