PORTLAND, Ore. — There are many ways to look at hospitals. Some obvious ones include how effectively they treat patients, how much they charge for routine procedures, how clean they are and how accessible they are to the communities they serve.
But hospitals are businesses, too, so it's also worthwhile seeing how they stack up in terms of some standard financial and utilization metrics. Thanks to data provided by Apprise Health Insights, which prepares the annual Oregon Community Hospital Report, and the Washington State Department of Health. The most recent available data is form 2017.
SLIDESHOW: 25 financially healthiest hospitals
To come up with the 25 financially healthiest hospitals, we examined eight factors at 59 medical centers and hospitals in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Sunnyside Medical Center and Westside Medical Center were excluded because Kaiser Foundation Hospitals’ financial information is not reported at individual facility level. Without regard to size or volume, we ranked them by 2017 operating margin and gave it three times the weight of all other factors.
We also ranked the 2017 occupancy rate and 2016-17 percentage change in net patient revenue, inpatient days, emergency room visits and outpatient visits. Those that gained the most in these factors ranked higher. Finally, facilities were ranked higher by the percentage reduction in operating expenses and 2017 uncompensated care as a percentage of gross revenue.
The Portland Business Journal is a KGW News partner.