Data on Rural Hospitals

Assets Available to Cover Losses

This table shows the extent to which a hospital has assets available to cover financial losses. The Total Expenses and Net Assets amounts shown are from the most recent Cost Report available for the hospital as of October 2024. The Patient Service Margin and Total Margin represent the averages from the three most recent Cost Reports available, excluding 2020 because of the unusual changes in costs and revenues during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Definitions of the variables are provided below the table.

Information About the Data

• Current Net Assets is calculated by subtracting the hospital’s current liabilities (e.g., accounts payable) from its current assets (e.g., cash and accounts receivable).
• Total Net Assets (excluding Fixed Assets) is calculated by subtracting the hospital’s current liabilities and long-term liabilities (e.g., long-term debt) from the sum of its current assets and other assets (e.g., investments). The hospital’s fixed assets (e.g., the hospital building) are not included since using fixed assets to pay for financial losses would require sale of parts of the hospital facility.

In addition, the table shows whether the hospital has had profits or losses in recent years:

• The Patient Service Margin represents the profit or loss from revenues and costs associated with health care services delivered to patients.
• The Total Margin includes revenues and costs that are not directly tied to patient care as well as revenues and expenses on patient services.

Margins and assets are not shown for Indian Health Service 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.

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