New Online Tool Tracks MA Hospital Revenue from Commercial Sources
Shows that revenue from public payers has gradually increased relative to revenue from commercial payers
BOSTON – A new online tool from Pioneer Institute shows a gradual increase in non-commercial (public payer) revenue at Massachusetts hospitals and also reveals a strong relationship between the hospitals with the highest commercial revenue and those with the highest relative prices.
The Hospital Commercial Revenue Tracker provides Massachusetts hospital revenue source data from 2008 to 2021. Over that period, the percentage of revenue from public payers has risen from 53.3 percent to 56.1 percent. The rest comes from commercial payers such as self-insured employers, individual payers, and commercial managed and non-managed care.
“The Hospital Commercial Revenue Tracker is an important tool to understand revenue trends in the Massachusetts hospital market,” said Pioneer Senior Fellow in Healthcare Barbara Anthony.
One group of hospitals has consistently been among the top 15 for net patient commercial revenue. They include Boston Children’s, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Newton-Wellesley, Brigham and Women’s and Mass General.
Throughout the 2008-21 period there has been a strong relationship between hospitals with the highest relative prices and those with the highest commercial revenues.
There has been more variation over time in terms of those with the lowest commercial revenue, but the list often includes Shriners Hospitals (Boston and Springfield), Athol Memorial Hospital, Steward Norwood Hospital, Anna Jacques Hospital and Falmouth Hospital.
Barbara Anthony is a senior fellow in Healthcare at Pioneer Institute. She is a former senior fellow and associate at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Business and Government, where she authored “Beyond Obamacare: Lessons from Massachusetts” for the Suffolk University Law School Journal of Health & Biomedical Law in 2018. She has served as Massachusetts Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, director of the Northeast Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission, and as a top deputy in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
