News for Immediate Release
June 27, 2024
Harrisburg – PHC4 released a report today that presents a financial profile of Pennsylvania’s general acute care (GAC) hospitals. Financial Analysis, Volume One, is the first in a three-part series of financial reports produced annually by PHC4.
Volume One provides insight into information surrounding uncompensated care, net patient revenue, operating margin, and total margin for the 156 licensed GAC hospitals that operated in some portion of Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director said, “We know our stakeholders rely on having these high-quality, fact-based reports to evaluate the financial health of Pennsylvania’s care delivery systems. As a part of our mission, we look forward to continuing to produce this much needed reporting.”
Volume One shows that 51% of Pennsylvania’s GAC hospitals posted a negative operating margin in FY23. It also reports that 15% of GAC hospitals posted an operating margin between 0% and 4%, while the remaining 34% posted an operating margin higher than 4%. As a result, the statewide average operating margin decreased 2.11 percentage points from 4.37% in FY22 to 2.26% in FY23.
Volume One also reports that 46% of Pennsylvania’s GAC hospitals posted a negative total margin. There were 14% that posted a total margin between 0% and 4%, with the remaining 40% posting a total margin higher than 4%. Due to these factors the statewide total margin realized by hospitals decreased 0.86 percentage points, from 4.30% in FY22 to 3.44% in FY23.
PHC4 has produced a series of reports measuring the financial condition and utilization of the Commonwealth’s hospitals since 1989. This report, like all PHC4 reporting, is intended to provide stakeholders with fact-based information to prioritize resources and make informed decisions. PHC4 invites all those interested to review these reports, which are available now at phc4.org.
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.
For more information, visit phc4.org or view the report here.
Media contact:
Barry D. Buckingham, Executive Director, PHC4
