Most people don’t think about hospitals until they have to use them. Yet, there is a lot that goes on inside the walls of a hospital … healing, hope and employment for hundreds of people. Here are some things you may not know about Alabama’s hospitals.
Quick facts:
- 106 general, community hospitals, plus additional specialty hospitals
- 59,000 babies born each year
- Almost 600,000 inpatients and 8.7 million outpatient visits annually
- Click for a hospital directory, including links by county.
Huge economic impact:
- Employ 90,000 people statewide, plus another 96,000 jobs indirectly
- Provide about $4.5 billion in salaries and benefits, which results in another $2.9 billion indirectly for a total of $7.4 billion in labor income for the state.
- Overall economic impact is $20.4 billion each year!
Continually improving care:
- Find out more about Alabama’s hospitals and their quality efforts and scores – Join the Health Journey.
Threats to these assets:
There are several financial challenges facing hospitals that we believe community leaders should know about, ones that threaten the viability of many hospitals:
- Expenses continue to rise.
- Revenue continues to decrease.
- Alabama’s hospitals get paid almost half as much as hospitals in other states due to inequitable payment formula. Learn more.
- About 15 percent of Alabama’s adults don’t have insurance, and hospitals provide more than $500 million each year in free care.
- The result is that 75 percent of Alabama’s hospitals are currently operating in the red. Read more.