Economic pain continued in May for Central Mass. hospitals

Photo | Grant Welker Milford Regional Medical Center

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By Grant Welker

May was a month when Massachusetts largely got coronavirus under control and hospitals began looking ahead to resuming somewhat normal operations.

But it wasn't a return to normalcy with hospitals' financials.

Hospitals statewide continued to run deep deficits in May, according to data released Thursday by the Center for Health Information and Analysis, a Boston-based independent state agency.

Milford Regional Medical Center had a 19.2% operating loss, and the deficit at Harrington Hospital in Southbridge was 8.2%. Milford Regional's worst month was April, with a 39.6% deficit. Harrington's was March, when it was 29.2% in the red.

Milford Regional, however, got a boost of good confidence Thursday when the New York ratings agency Standard & Poor's upgraded the hospital's bond ratings from negative to stable. S&P had revised downward the hospital's rating in April as one of several care facilities it rated as speculative-grade or had low unrestricted reserves.

The revision to a stable outlook for Milford Regional reflects anticipated benefits from a proposed refinancing of debt, the agency said, along with the hospital's strong earnings trajectory before the pandemic hit.

Among the state's largest hospital systems' performance in May, Mass General Brigham — formerly Partners HealthCare — was down 13.2%, and Beth Israel Lahey Health was 9.3% in the red.

CHIA's new monthly financial reporting, meant to give a more detailed look at hospital spending and revenue during the pandemic, was voluntary, with 38 of 61 acute-care centers participating. UMass Memorial Health Care and Heywood Hospital were among those not participating. Saint Vincent Hospital, MetroWest Medical Center and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, which are run by private, for-profit entities, are generally excluded from CHIA's financial reporting.

Of hospitals that reported their financials, the median margin was -3.3%, CHIA said. If not for CARES Act funding, the deficit would have been -26.1%, according to the report.

Of the 38 reporting hospitals, 21 ran deficits. Expenses for May were down 7%, which could account for hospitals reducing their staffs.