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Local rehabilitation, psychiatric and long-term care hospitals are operating with relatively narrow margins &#8212; taking in only a bit more than they spend &#8212; according to a new report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4).The council released its annual financial analysis of &#8220;non-general acute care&#8221; hyospitals, providing data that includes net income from patients, total operating cost and both operating margins and total margin.The operating margin compares income from patient operations to costs, while total margin compares income from all sources &#8212; including things like gift shops and cafeterias &#8212; to costs.The two area rehabilitation hospitals, Allied Services and John Heinz Rehab, both had comparatively small total margins in 2015. The state average was 11.7 percent; Allied services had a margin of 8.9 percent, while John Heinz had a small negative margin of -1.2 percent, meaning it spent more than it took in.Heinz did have a slight positive total margin of .6 percent averaged over three years, from 2013 through 2015.By comparison, the two biggest total margins statewide were 27.8 percent and 27.5 percent, posted respectively by St. Mary Rehabilitation Hospital in Bucks County and Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital in the Lancaster County seat.The region&#8217;s lone psychiatric hospital on the PHC4 list, First Hospital in Kingston, posted a total margin of 6.8 percent. That&#8217;s higher than the state average of 5.9 percent. Seven psychiatric hospitals statewide had total margins above 10 percent with Clarion Psychiatric Center, in the Clarion County seat, posting the biggest margin at 22.6 percent.The report also listed only one regional long-term acute care hospital: Post Acute Medical, which operates on a floor in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital under agreement with hospital owner Commonwealth Health.Post Acute Medical posted a total margin of 5.9 percent, slightly below the state average of 7.2 percent for such facilities.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

Tight margins shown at area rehab and psychiatric hospitals