At $60M; UMass Memorial is region's most profitable hospital in 2015

The region as a whole had a strong showing in 2015.

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All but two of the acute-care hospitals in Central Massachusetts were profitable last year, pushing the overall margin for the region to fourth best out of the seven regions in the state, according to a report by the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).

Athol Hospital and UMass Memorial -- Clinton Hospital were the only in the region to lose money for the year, according to the "Massachusetts Acute Hospital Financial Performance” report released Thursday. This was a strong showing for Central Massachusetts in light of an overall decline statewide that saw the statewide median margin decline from 4.2 percent in fiscal year 2014 to 3.7 percent in fiscal year 2015.

Out of 65 hospitals studied, 11 lost money in fiscal 2015, according to the report, leaving only 80 percent of the hospitals profitable for 2015.

In the region, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with $60 million (total margin 3.91 percent) turned the highest profit.

The others, in order, were:

Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester with $44.9 million in profits (total margin 10.4 percent)
Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge with $9.3 million in profits (total margin 7.34 percent)
Milford Regional Medical Center with $7.4 million in profits (total margin 3.72 percent)
HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster with $7 million in profits (total margin 4.15 percent)
UMass Memorial -- Marlborough Hospital with $4.6 million in profits (total margin 5.67 percent)
Heywood Hospital in Gardner with $4.6 million in profits (total margin 4.34 percent)
MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham with $3.9 million in profits (total margin 6.23 percent)
Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer with $3.2 million in profits (total margin 6.89 percent)
Athol Hospital with $402,216 in losses (total margin -1.74 percent)
UMass Memorial -- Clinton Hospital with $1,229,000 in losses (total margin -4.6 percent).

HealthAlliance, Clinton and Marlborough hospitals are subsidiaries of the UMass Memorial Health Care system, as is UMass Memorial Medical Center.

At $201.1 million, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston recorded the largest profit of the 65 acute-care hospitals reviewed.

To determine hospitals' financial health, CHIA examined total margin, operating margin, non-operating margin, current ratio, days in accounts receivable, average payment period, debt service coverage, cash flow to total debt and the equity financing ratio.

The report notes that for the majority of the hospitals examined, the fiscal 2015 ending date is Sept. 30, 2015. MetroWest Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital have June 30 fiscal year ends.