Evaluation of the financial performance of hospitals in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic

In this study, the financial performance of hospitals in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic is analyzed with the aim of providing guiding recommendations to hospital administrators and contributing to the literature. For this purpose, the financial statement data of Q-861 Hospital Services published on the official website of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey for the years 2019–2023 were evaluated using horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, trend analysis, and ratio analysis. According to the findings obtained from the analyses, it was concluded that hospital revenues and expenses increased during the pandemic period, hospitals had a high dependency on short-term liabilities, the current ratio of hospitals remained below the expected level, hospitals were not able to manage their inventories effectively, hospitals experienced cash flow problems in 2020, resulting in longer collection periods for receivables compared to other years, gross profit margins increased during the pandemic period, operating profit margins rose during 2020–2021, and net profit margins also increased throughout the pandemic.