30 Cities With The Best Hospitals In The US

In This Article:

In this article, we will take a look at the 30 cities with the best hospitals in the US. If you want to skip our discussion on the healthcare industry, you can go directly to the 5 Cities With The Best Hospitals In The US.

The healthcare industry stands amongst the fastest-developing sectors in the world, as evidenced by the sector’s significant share in the US economy. In 2023, the US spent an estimated $4.7 trillion on healthcare, translating to about 18% of the national GDP. This expenditure is nearly double that of other countries with similar economic situations. According to research, the US spends $12,555 per capita on healthcare compared to $7,358 for the Netherlands, $8,049 for Switzerland, and $6,517 for France. The US also has quite a few cities being featured on the list of 30 Cities With the Best Healthcare in the World. However, despite the high levels of spending, there still remains significant room for improvement in the quality of healthcare services in the US. A majority of US consumers may not express immediate concern, given that they are covered by insurance plans provided by their employers. However, this lack of concern is often due to a lack of information for evaluating both the quality and costs of healthcare services. The inefficiency in pricing within the healthcare system, coupled with average treatment outcomes, puts a burden on the national economy.

The 2024 outlook for healthcare by Deloitte reveals that healthcare companies are navigating a range of issues and changing trends, such as continued financial stress, the integration of new technologies, and a growing trend of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Furthermore, the rising labor expenses are acting as a significant pressure point for healthcare companies, leading to lowered margins. These increasing costs of medical care and coverage are expected to leave consumers with higher treatment expenses in 2024 and beyond. In 2023 alone, the prices of outpatient care and hospital services recorded an increase of 5.7% and 4.2%, respectively. In response to these financial challenges, many healthcare companies such as Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) are optimizing their operations to increase efficiency and cut down costs.

Here's what Polen Capital said about Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:

“As stated below in the portfolio activity section, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) is expected to see roughly $6 billion in COVID test sales evaporate this year, creating a headwind for margins and underlying earnings per share. As long-term owners of the business, these test sales were never part of our original investment case. The core business, our primary focus, has a clear path of growing high single digits in 2023 with durable growth beyond, in our view. We believe the current price of 23x NTM P/E , while reasonable, is also misleading considering earnings this year will be artificially depressed because of the drop in COVID testing sales. On normalized earnings, the price is lower. We anticipate underlying EPS growth of at least low-teens over the next three to five years.