The aim of this paper is to evaluate the economic and financial performance, and particularly the return on investment, of companies operating in the health sector, by comparing hospitals, health plan operators and businesses in general. The data used was taken from financial statements for the year 2006, as compiled by Gazeta Mercantil’s publication, ‘Annual Report 2007’. Data were compared using the non-parametric median and chi square tests. When the largest companies in each category are compared, there are no statistically significant differences in their returns on total assets. The largest hospitals and health plan operators were equally profitable, but less profitable than business in general. Hospitals had a bigger earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) but grew less than operators in 2006. The conclusion reached is that the return on investment of hospitals with large revenues does not seem to differ significantly from that of other companies in the economy. It was also observed that there is no significant difference between for-profit or not-for-profit hospitals, with respect to their EBITDA margin, net margin and return on total assets.
Hospitals; health plan operators; return on investment; profitability; EBITDA
