Labor productivity in private community hospitals, 1993–2012

Output for private community hospitals grew at an average annual rate of 2.1 percent from 1993 to 2012, and labor productivity grew at a rate of 0.5 percent over the same period. Productivity measures how efficiently hospital workers provide services. We measure labor productivity by dividing the index of output by the index of labor hours. When output grows faster than hours, labor productivity rises. Labor productivity in private community hospitals increased from 1993 to 2001 but declined 0.4 percent annually from 2001 to 2012.

These data are from the Labor Productivity and Costs program. Defining and measuring hospital output poses many challenges. BLS has developed a new measure of output based on the number of treatments a hospital completes. To learn more, see "New measure of labor productivity for private community hospitals: 1993–2012" in the October 2015 Monthly Labor Review.