7 of 10 most profitable US hospitals are nonprofits

mcall.com

CHICAGO — Seven of the 10 most profitable U.S. hospitals are nonprofits, according to new research, including one in Urbana, Illinois, where hospital tax exemptions are headed for a contentious court battle that soon could determine whether medical facilities are paying their fair share of taxes.

The "Top 10" list accompanies a study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. The analysis is based on federal data from 2013 on nearly 3,000 hospitals. The authors measured profits using net income from patient care services, disregarding other income such as investments, donations and tuition. Researchers say the measure reflects how hospitals fare from their core work, without income from other activities.

The research comes amid a legal inquiry into Lehigh Valley Health Network's charitable giving and as cities in New Jersey, Michigan and Wisconsin wage battles over their hospitals' tax breaks. Officials are scraping for revenue and pressuring hospitals to either pay up or justify their tax-exempt status.

So, who's making money, and how? According to the study, delivering patient care was a money-loser for 55 percent of hospitals in the year studied. About a third made some money — up to $1,000 — per patient. And a small group — about 12 percent of the total — made profits of more than $1,000 per discharged patient from payments by insurers, government and patients themselves.