Although the global pandemic is officially over, it has left a permanent mark on the health care landscape, reshaping the dynamics of hospitals in the United States. While staffing crises often dominate the headlines, health care institutions face an underlying financial crisis that remains largely underreported.

In 2022, a startling 50% of all U.S. hospitals concluded the year with a negative margin. Due to factors like elective surgical volume challenges, shifts in payer mix, and the migration of high-margin services from inpatient to ambulatory settings, this appears to be a sustained trend rather than an isolated incident. Without intervention, the future for health care institutions looks bleak, with current projections forecasting a 4 to 5 percentage-point drop in operating margins by 2027.

Maintaining financial stability is not merely a question of economic survival, but a necessary condition to fulfill the hospital’s mission: serving their communities and saving lives. Thus, it’s imperative for health care leaders to search for innovative strategies to bolster hospital finances, acting preemptively to avert these looming losses.

One road to positive margins is through the implementation of programs that cannot be moved to the outpatient setting, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). A life-saving treatment for critically ill patients with severe respiratory or cardiac failure, ECMO has existed for more than five decades. Yet, despite significant technological advancements and improved outcomes, its reputation and acceptance have lagged behind due to persistent myths and misconceptions surrounding outcomes and impact on hospital operations and finally costs. Perpetuating these misconceptions is a costly mistake for hospitals — not only in terms of the missed financial opportunities but, more importantly, in terms of patient lives.