CHICAGO, December 28, 2004—As the healthcare field continues to change, so do the top issues confronting hospitals. For the third year in a row, ACHE's "Top Issues Confronting Hospitals: 2004" survey reveals the issues of greatest concern for hospital CEOs. The survey asked respondents to rank the three most pressing issues affecting their hospitals; within each of the three issues, respondents were also asked to identify specific areas of concern.

Financial challenges are by far hospital CEOs’ number one most concerning issue, similar to 2003. This year, 71 percent of respondents cited financial challenges as one of their top three concerns, compared with 73 percent in 2003. Among the other issues, care for the uninsured continued to gain in importance, with 36 percent of respondents identifying it as one of their top three challenges, up from 26 percent in 2003. Personnel shortages continued to decline in importance, moving from 58 percent in 2003 to 33 percent in the 2004 survey.

Click here for more results from the survey, which was sent on October 1, 2004, to 922 hospital CEOs, 480 (52 percent) of whom responded.

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