EMMA: Get to know this source for hospital financial reports

Recorded Aug. 2

If you are looking for detailed information about the financial health of hospital systems and health care facilities, you need to know EMMA. The Electronic Municipal Market Access website is the official source for comprehensive annual financial reports and operating information about any hospital or health care facility financed by public debt.

EMMA is the SEC’s free database that covers the finances and debts of hospitals, universities, cities and lots more.

You can startle your editors by getting alerts when the hospitals you care about merge or get downgraded. You can get the latest financials much sooner than just about anywhere else. And you can even learn about the performance of some for-profit companies, which I had no idea about.

Staff from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will demonstrate how to find hospital data and information on EMMA, and highlight several EMMA tools and resources that can assist reporters with monitoring hospital finances and identifying potential stories.

• Leah Szarek, senior manager of communications, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board

• Moderator: Karl Stark, business news editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer; AHCJ board member