New Hampshire Hospitals Doing Much Better Financially Than Maine Hospitals

Since Maine and New Hampshire are the only US States in the Northeast so far that have tentatively decided to not expand Medicaid in their States, I have decided to review their Short-term Acute Hospitals financially in a bit more detail.

It really surprised me to discover how substantially better New Hampshire's Hospitals performed financially in the most recent year than Maine's Hospitals performed.

I reviewed  certain key data related to the 20 individual Maine Hospitals and 13 New Hampshire Hospitals contained in the excellent American Hospital Directory's (AHD) website. 

The 20 Maine Hospitals generated Total Bottom Line Earnings of $72.7 mil in the most recent year reported as compared to $229.7 mil for the 13 New Hampshire Hospitals.....yeah, that's more than 3 times higher Total Earnings for New Hampshire's Hospitals.

On an Average Hospital Net Income basis, the difference was even more pronounced, with New Hampshire's Average Hospital Net Income of $17.672 mil being nearly 5 times Maine's comparable average of $3.636 mil.

Maine had 5 of its 20 Hospitals post Net Losses.  New Hampshire had none.

Nine of Maine's 20 Hospitals, or 45%, had less than 100 hospital beds.  Four of New Hampshire's 13 Hospitals, or a lower 31%, had less than 100 beds.  Maine had 7 Hospitals with bed size of 66 or below.  New Hampshire's lowest Hospital bed size was 74.

Here's probably the most telling statistic.....the 11 Maine Hospitals with bed size greater than 100 had an Average Hospital Net Income of $5.230 mil, much lower than the Average Hospital Net Income of $13.065 mil for the 4 New Hampshire Hospitals with bed size of less than 100.

It's pretty clear that New Hampshire is being much more efficient in the utilization of its Hospitals than Maine.

When Maine's Average Net Income of its 9 smallest Hospitals is only $1.687 mil coupled with the fact that 25% of its Hospitals posted Net Losses, it's pretty clear that its Hospitals are in much need of a financial boost.  The clearly best way to do it is to simply have Maine Expand Medicaid.  What this would do is to significantly reduce two Hospital Earnings Charges.....Provision for Bad Debts and Uncompensated Charity Care Charges.

I don't think the State of Maine's Government leadership is working in the best interests of its citizens on its refusal to Expand Medicaid, particularly when its State Hospitals are suffering so much financially.

And all Hospitals in New Hampshire would also get significant boosts in their earnings from the Expansion of Medicaid.  This should give New Hampshire Hospitals more financial flexibility to lower their prices on Hospital Patient Care.

From information in the AHD website, below here are the Number of Beds and Bottom Line Net Income or Loss for both the 20 Maine Hospitals and the 13 New Hampshire Hospitals for the most recent year reported, presented in declining bed size:

			Net
		# of	Income
Maine Hospital Name	City	Beds	(Loss)
			$000s
Maine Medical Center	Portland	644	33,763
Eastern Maine Medical Center	Bangor	349	14,254
Central Maine Medical Center	Lewiston	237	(4,298)
MaineGeneral Med Ctr - Thayer Campus	Waterville	236	10,559
Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center	Lewiston	171	8,025
Penobscot Bay Medical Center	Rockport	165	2,235
The Aroostook Medical Center	Presque Isle	161	(304)
Mercy Hospital	Portland	148	(17,297)
Goodall Hospital	Sanford	123	1,305
Southern Maine Medical Center	Biddeford	123	2,777
Saint Joseph Hospital	Bangor	112	6,507
Northern Maine Medical Center	Fort Kent	94	(1,984)
Mid Coast Hospital	Brunswick	92	2,935
York Hospital	York	66	6,407
Parkview Adventist Medical Center	Brunswick	55	(1,004)
Cary Medical Center	Caribou	49	93
Franklin Memorial Hospital	Farmington	48	2,708
Maine Coast Memorial Hospital	Ellsworth	48	3,893
Inland Hospital	Waterville	46	1,074
Miles Memorial Hospital	Damariscotta	38	1,063
Total all 20 Maine Hospitals		3,005	72,711
Maine Average Hospital Net Income			3,636

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			Net
		# of	Income
New Hampshire Hospital Name	City	Beds	(Loss)
			$000s
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center	Lebanon	384	46,807
Elliot Hospital	Manchester	243	27,523
Catholic Medical Center	Manchester	227	11,383
Saint Joseph Hospital	Nashua	208	13,041
Concord Hospital	Concord	206	15,461
Portsmouth Regional Hospital	Portsmouth	180	41,936
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center	Nashua	168	7,986
Cheshire Medical Center	Keene	140	254
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital	Dover	115	13,080
Exeter Hospital	Exeter	99	29,286
Lakes Region General Hospital	Laconia	88	154
Parkland Medical Center	Derry	82	18,984
Frisbie Memorial Hospital	Rochester	74	3,836
Total all 13 New Hampshire Hospitals		2,214	229,731
New Hampshire Average Hospital Net Income			17,672