--- title: Five To Save | Your Patients Are Paying More. Are You? | Feb. 18, 2019 description: Patients are paying more for care. But somehow hospitals are still strapped for cash. How does that happen, and what are we going to do about it? image: https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/FTS%20-%20money%20for%20bandaids.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/five-to-save-feb-18-2018#main-content) [![Group 1211](https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/Group%201211.png)](https://www.z5inventory.com) - [Solutions](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions) - [Z5 Count](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-1) - [Z5 Fixed Asset](https://www.z5inventory.com/solution/fixedassetcount) - [Z5 Analytics](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0) - [Z5 Optimization](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-0) - [Who We Serve](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2022) - Company - [About Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact-2021) - [Contact Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact) - [Careers](https://www.z5inventory.com/careers) - [Blog](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog) - [Login](https://prod.z5development.com/) # Five To Save | Your Patients Are Paying More. Are You? | Feb. 18, 2019 [Alex Diamond](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/author/alex-diamond) 2/18/2019 ![The Z5 Piggy Bank illustrates how patients are paying more than ever for care that's not getting better. ](https://www.z5inventory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FTS%20-%20money%20for%20bandaids.jpg?width=1200&name=FTS%20-%20money%20for%20bandaids.jpg) The reports went out. The numbers came in. Americans are paying more for healthcare than ever before. But their outcomes aren't getting better. Your operating margins aren't getting bigger. So what's going on?  Five To Saves have traditionally been about one topic (even if we've danced around it a time or two). Moolah. Cash. Cheddar. Dough. In four words: Money, Money, Money, Money.  Read on if you're in a tight spot (all of healthcare is, by the way, since hospitals work with less than a [4% operating margin](https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/hospital-operating-margins-dropped-39-over-3-years/532205/)).  1. [Healthcare spending is at an all-time high](https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/driven-by-prices-private-healthcare-spending-reaches-new-high). Good news, right?  2. [Hospitals are raising wages](https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20190126/NEWS/190129958?), at least.  3. Part of that could be attributed to the way mergers are being handled. Or not, in the case of the [aborted Baylor Scott & White-Memorial Hermann merger](https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/baylor-scott-white-health-memorial-hermann-call-merger-plans). 4. And on the supply side, more and more hospitals are learning to [break up with their suppliers](https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/supplier-switch-breaking-up-buyer-relationship/546874/) to save money. (If you are, too, [our online store](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/z5-inventory-unveils-online-medical-supplies-store) full of low-cost, long-dated product would like us to forward the message: "Hey, hospitals. Hey.") 5. Maybe hospitals aren't really making more money - and patients aren't really getting any healthier - because [progress is inefficient](https://fs.blog/2019/01/getting-ahead-inefficient/). But sometimes you have to be willing to take a risk to see if you could be even more efficient than you are.  Bonus shout out to the longest-serving U.S. congressman ever, the late John Dingell, who was also the person who [fought longest and hardest for healthcare reform](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/08/692744027/former-rep-john-dingell-left-an-enduring-health-care-legacy).   That's it for this edition. PLEASE comment below, [email us](mailto:info@z5health.com?Subject=Five%20To%20Save), etc. Tell us what you liked. What was helpful. What you’d like to see more of. If you can take a break from fanning yourself with all the Benjamins you saved using the [Z5 Inventory Solution](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions).  [Baylor Scott & White](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/baylor-scott-white) [selling medical inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/selling-medical-inventory) [supply chain management](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/supply-chain-management) [medical supply](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/medical-supply) [digital supply management](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/digital-supply-management) [healthcare inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/healthcare-inventory) [buying medical inventory](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/buying-medical-inventory) [supplier relationships](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/supplier-relationships) [year of the pig](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/year-of-the-pig) [operating margins](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/topic/operating-margins) ## Leave a Comment ## Related Posts ### [12/7/2021 Helping Inventory Shelves: Who's Keeping An Eye On Your Product?](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/helping-inventory-shelves-whos-keeping-an-eye-on-your-product) ### [5/24/2022 5 Steps To Improve Your Valuation Experience & Results: A New White Paper From Z5](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/5-steps-to-improve-your-valuation-experience-results-a-new-white-paper-from-z5) ### [7/7/2020 How To Communicate Plans To Your Patients and Staff | Five To Save](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog/five-to-save-how-to-communicate-plans-to-your-patients-and-staff) ![Group 1212](https://www.z5inventory.com/hubfs/Group%201212.png) Z5 Inventory was founded with the purpose of saving health care providers nationwide from expiring product, empowering them to Count, Reallocate, and Buy their inventory all in one place. - [Solutions](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions) - [Z5 Count](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-1) - [Z5 Analytics](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0) - [Z5 Optimization](https://www.z5inventory.com/solutions-2021-0-0) - Company - [About Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact-2021) - [Contact Us](https://www.z5inventory.com/contact) - [Careers](https://www.z5inventory.com/careers) - [Blog](https://www.z5inventory.com/blog) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.z5inventory.com/privacy-policy) - [Get The App](https://www.z5inventory.com/platform) - [Apple App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/z5-count/id1557711721) - [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.z5inventory&gl=US) - [Dashboard Login](https://prod.z5development.com/) © 2026 All rights reserved. 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