An analytical review of hospital financial performance measures.

Hospital administrators must have timely, valid, and interpretable financial information that allows them to make operational decisions in response to the threats of the changing health care environment. Aggregate indexes that reflect dimensions of hospital financial performance and simplify the information in financial ratios are needed to aid in decision making. This article reviews the development and use of hospital financial performance measures and lays the groundwork for research into deriving a multidimensional measure.