CHIA Publishes HfFY2023 Annual Massachusetts Acute Hospital and Health System Financial Performance Report

DATE: September 19, 2024

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) has released the Annual Massachusetts Acute Hospital and Health System Financial Performance Report for hospital fiscal year (HFY) 2023.  

For HFY 2023, CHIA found that overall acute hospital profitability, as measured by median total margin, was 2.2%—an increase of 6.4 percentage points from 2022; the statewide acute hospital median operating margin was 0.2% in HFY 2023—an increase of 1.5 percentage points from 2022. In addition to these profitability findings, this publication also reports on the liquidity and solvency of hospital health systems and their affiliated acute hospitals, as well as the profitability of affiliated physician organizations.

Key Findings

• For HFY 2023, CHIA found that overall acute hospital profitability, as measured by median total margin, was 2.2%—an increase of 6.4 percentage points from 2022; the statewide acute hospital median operating margin was 0.2% in HFY 2023—an increase of 1.5 percentage points from 2022.

• The statewide median hospital health system total margin was 3.2 percent, an increase of 9.0 percentage points compared to the prior hospital fiscal year, while the statewide median hospital health system operating margin was -2.8 percent. Total margins reported by the hospital health systems were influenced primarily by non-operating margins during this period, which included approximately $2.2 billion in unrealized gains and losses.

• Aggregate operating revenues across all acute hospitals increased by $3.6 billion (9.4 percent) from HFY 2022 to HFY 2023 after increasing by $2.0 billion (5.4 percent) in the prior hospital fiscal year.

• Aggregate expenses across all acute hospitals increased by $3.0 billion (7.6 percent) from HFY 2022 to HFY 2023 after increasing by $3.2 billion (8.9 percent) in the prior hospital fiscal year.

• Temporary labor expenses decreased slightly in HFY 2023 compared with the prior hospital fiscal year, but remained more than double what was reported in HFY 2021 and five times what was reported in HFY 2019.

CHIA also produces an interactive dashboard containing information on five-year trend analyses for each acute hospital and its hospital health system. This report is accompanied by the databook used to calculate these metrics.