PillarAug 26, 2026
Do hospitals make money? Margins from 6,421 Medicare cost reports
The median US hospital reports a 5.6% operating margin and loses money on patient care. The gap between those two numbers is the whole story.
7 min readMargins
InsightsAll modules
Module
Hospitals
Hospital finance from the filings every Medicare-participating hospital submits: margins, unit economics, charge-to-payment spreads, and charity care across 6,421 hospitals and $1.52 trillion of net patient revenue. Distributions, not panel averages.
6 posts1 clusterUpdated Sep 16, 2026
Segments
Cluster
Hospital Finance
What hospitals earn, spend, charge, and give away, computed from every Medicare cost report on file.
6
posts
BenchmarkAug 27, 2026
What a hospital makes per patient: revenue and cost per adjusted discharge
Median revenue per adjusted discharge is $15,218. Median cost is $15,582. The median US hospital loses $360 per patient before other revenue steps in.
5 min readUnit economicsMargins
Market mapAug 28, 2026
What hospitals charge vs what Medicare pays
For a major joint replacement, the median hospital lists $72,218 and Medicare pays $12,922. Across 2,904 hospitals, charges run 4.8x the Medicare payment.
5 min readPricing
BenchmarkAug 31, 2026
How much charity care do hospitals provide?
US hospitals report $33B in charity care. The median hospital gives away 1.4% of net revenue; a handful of public safety nets give away more than half.
4 min readCommunity benefit
MethodSep 1, 2026
Where hospital financial data comes from: Medicare cost reports, explained
Every US hospital that takes Medicare files a public cost report: income statement, balance sheet, charity care, and more. Here is what it holds and where it bends.
5 min readMethod
GlossarySep 16, 2026
What is net patient revenue?
Net patient revenue is what a hospital actually collects for care after discounts, denials, and write-offs. At the median, that is 33 cents of every charged dollar.
3 min readMethodPricing
In draft
The State of Hospital Finance
The annual data report and press asset, briefed once these six are live.