Data on Rural Hospitals

Sources of Revenue at Rural Hospitals

This table shows the four major sources of revenue that a rural hospital uses to pay for the expenses it incurs. The percentages shown represent the average from the two most recent Cost Reports available as of July 2025.

The percentages in this table do not represent the “payer mix” at a hospital. The payer mix is shown in the Payer Mix and Margins at Rural Hospitals table. If a hospital has a large number of Medicaid or privately insured patients, but the payments for services from one or both of those payers are very low, the proportion of the hospital’s revenue received from those payers will be lower than the proportion of patients.

Definitions of the variables are provided below the table.

Information About the Data

The percentages shown are the amount of revenue the hospital received in each category divided by the total revenue, averaged over two years.

• Medicare FFS represents payments for hospital services delivered to patients on Original Medicare. (Services for Medicare Advantage patients are included in “Private and Other.”)
• Medicaid, CHIP, and Indigent represents payments for services to patients enrolled in Medicaid, CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program), and state or local indigent care programs.
• Private and Other represents payments the hospital receives for services delivered to (1) insured patients other than those with Original Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, or other indigent care programs and (2) patients without insurance who did not qualify for charity care.
• Non-Patient Services represents revenue from sources that are not directly based on services delivered to patients, including local tax revenues, state government grants, federal pandemic assistance, and services such as parking, gift shops, and cafeterias.

A percentage may be negative if a hospital had to repay payments received in a previous year or if it lost money on investments.

Revenues are not shown for some hospitals because they do not receive payments based on the number and types of services they deliver or report revenue in the same way as other hospitals do.

Total Expenses is based on the most recent Cost Report available.

Additional details on the methodology are available in the Methodology section.