Massachusetts’ largest health care system lost a colossal sum in its last fiscal year, according to a financial report released Friday. Mass General Brigham reported an overall loss of $2.3 billion in 2022, including a loss of $432 million from operations, for the fiscal year ending September 1. 30. This is a problem that hospital officials say is widespread. The story was dramatically different in fiscal year 2021, when the nonprofit health system reported operating income of $180 million and another $262 million from federal sources. MGB’s overall earning in 2021 was $3.2 billion. “Many of the country’s health systems and hospitals are experiencing the worst year financially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” MGB officials wrote in their financial statements. “Although the effects of inflation and labor shortages are widespread, healthcare providers face unique challenges with little flexibility to quickly adapt to rising costs.” During the fiscal year, all hospitals in the system achieved an average operating capacity of 100% or more and the report said facilities saw a drop in discharges as the length of hospital stays increased. Vacancies for clinical staff have reduced bed capacity across the health care continuum, making it much more difficult to find follow-up care beds, which has contributed to an average length of stay in care. short duration of more than 6 days in 2022, i.e. about 15% more than the average. length of stay prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in an increase in overall resource use per patient,” the report states. Revenues from bonuses and research increased, but operating expenses increased largely due to higher salaries, benefits and clinical supply costs. The report says the system also absorbed $2.3 billion in lost revenue due to government reimbursements that do not cover the full cost of care, a 15% increase from the lost revenue in 2021. The financial report indicates that the health system is implementing an action plan to mitigate future losses. Steps include ongoing onboarding efforts across the system, supporting staff training programs, identifying administrative vacancies to be eliminated, and reassessing budgets for the new fiscal year.
Massachusetts’ largest health care system lost a colossal sum in its last fiscal year, according to a financial report released Friday.
Mass General Brigham reported an overall loss of $2.3 billion in 2022, including a loss of $432 million from operations, for the fiscal year ending September 1. 30. This is a problem that hospital officials say is widespread.
The story was dramatically different in fiscal year 2021, when the nonprofit health system reported operating income of $180 million and another $262 million from federal sources. MGB’s overall earning in 2021 was $3.2 billion.
“Many of the country’s health systems and hospitals are experiencing the worst year financially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” MGB officials wrote in their financial statements. “As the impacts of inflation and labor shortages are widespread, healthcare providers face unique challenges with little flexibility to quickly adjust to rising costs.”
During the financial year, all hospitals in the system had an average operational capacity of 100% or more and the report indicates that facilities saw a decline in discharges while the length of hospital stays increased.
Vacancies for clinical staff have reduced bed capacity across the health care continuum, making it much more difficult to find follow-up care beds, which has contributed to an average length of stay in care. short duration of more than 6 days in 2022, i.e. about 15% more than the average. length of stay prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in an increase in overall resource use per patient,” the report states.
Revenues from bonuses and research increased, but operating expenses increased largely due to higher salaries, benefits and clinical supply costs. The report says the system also absorbed $2.3 billion in lost revenue due to government reimbursements that do not cover the full cost of care, a 15% increase from the lost revenue in 2021. .
The financial report indicates that the health system is implementing an action plan to mitigate future losses. Steps include ongoing onboarding efforts across the system, supporting staff training programs, identifying administrative vacancies to be eliminated, and reassessing budgets for the new fiscal year.
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