Every year, some Rhode Island Hospitals make money and some lose money. That was still the case last year. According to data from the hospital association of Rhode Island, five medical centers made money and six did not. But if you add up all those profits and losses across the state, Rhode Island's hospitals fell into the red by nearly 4 million dollars.

Ed Quinlan, the president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island, says he's never seen this happen before.

"Not in memory have hospitals recorded a negative operating margin for a year. By that I mean, the industry lost money last year," he says.

Quinlan says lower Medicare and Medicaid rates as well as decreases in state aid for uncompensated care have contributed to the losses at local medical centers. The Hospital Association would not release hospital specific financial data or name which medical centers lost money in 2011.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@wrni.org.

© Copyright 2012, RIPR