Pandemic aid not enough to bring Central Mass. hospitals to break-even

Photo | Grant Welker Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester

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By Grant Welker

Central Massachusetts hospitals generally struggled to reach a break-even point financially despite millions of dollars in federal aid meant to help during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hospitals have suffered financially during the pandemic, both because of virus-related precautions, such as securing personal protective equipment and staffing care units, and because profitable procedures and check-ups have often been postponed. New data released Thursday by the state shows the financial hit hospitals and physicians groups have taken during the pandemic.

Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health Care reported a $139 million, or 1.3%, operating deficit in the past nine months despite $112 million in pandemic funding, according to the state's Center for Health Information and Analysis. Heywood Healthcare in Southbridge has reported a 3.1% operating deficit despite $37 million in aid.

Tenet Healthcare's Massachusetts operations, which include Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick, was an exception to the often dismal finances statewide. Tenet reported a 2.1% positive operating margin.

Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer ran a deficit in the most recent six months of $8.9 million, or about 38%. The hospital, which is part of the Steward Health Care system, directed many of its severe coronavirus patients to a sibling Steward facility, Carney Hospital in Boston.

Statewide, 29 of 59 hospitals reported positive total margins. The median total margin was -0.7%, a drop of 4.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Hospitals ran a total operating deficit of nearly $1.2 billion, according to CHIA. If not for pandemic aid, the deficit would have been $4.4 billion. Hospitals reported $1.1 billion in federal funding and $160 million in state funding in their operating revenue through June 30.