Healthcare Insights

Hospitals by highest total uncompensated care costs

Approximately 9% of the U.S. population did not have health insurance coverage in 2020. One study even indicates that about 18% of people would not be able to afford quality healthcare if they needed access to it today. With rising healthcare service costs, health systems are also seeing increases in charity care and other unreimbursed costs.  

What is uncompensated care? 

According to the American Hospital Association, uncompensated care is an overall measure of hospital care provided for which no payment was received from the patient or insurer.  

Total uncompensated care includes unreimbursed Medicaid costs, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), state and local indigent care programs, charity care for both insured and uninsured patients, and non-Medicare and non-reimbursable Medicare bad debt expense. 

Using HospitalView, we analyzed over 4,500 U.S. hospitals to determine the top 20 hospitals with the highest total uncompensated care or unreimbursed costs. 

Hospitals with highest total uncompensated care costs in 2020

RankDefinitive IDHospital nameLocationTotal uncompensated care/unreimbursed costsExplore dataset
11140John H Stroger Jr Hospital of Cook CountyChicago, IL$713,043,433 Explore
2274186Ben Taub HospitalHouston, TX$693,256,966 Explore
33931Parkland Health and Hospital SystemDallas, TX$670,087,444 Explore
4845Jackson Memorial HospitalMiami, FL$590,118,499 Explore
52844NYC Health and Hospitals - BellevueNew York, NY$505,906,875 Explore
6476LAC & USC Medical CenterLos Angeles, CA$439,407,052 Explore
72879NYC Health and Hospitals - ElmhurstElmhurst, NY$439,174,858 Explore
8541974New York - Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical CenterNew York, NY$382,825,407 Explore
94147John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS Health Network)Fort Worth, TX$372,930,744 Explore
102753NYC Health and Hospitals - LincolnBronx, NY$336,588,041 Explore
11731Yale New Haven HospitalNew Haven, CT$335,125,796 Explore
12809Tampa General HospitalTampa, FL$333,681,915 Explore
132843Tisch HospitalNew York, NY$331,684,681 Explore
142878NYC Health and Hospitals - QueensJamaica, NY$290,810,752 Explore
15273024Montefiore Hospital - Moses CampusBronx, NY$284,644,328 Explore
163859University HospitalSan Antonio, TX$283,146,493 Explore
172804NYC Health and Hospitals - Coney IslandBrooklyn, NY$275,800,652 Explore
18873AdventHealth OrlandoOrlando, FL$271,432,407 Explore
19996Grady Health SystemAtlanta, GA$261,860,032 Explore
203818Methodist University HospitalMemphis, TN$261,840,130 Explore

Fig. 1  Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product. Data is sourced from the Medicare Cost Report. The most recent data is through Q3 2020 and new data is released quarterly. Accessed October 2021.  

Which hospitals have the highest uncompensated care costs? 

Chicago’s John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County reported over $700 million in uncompensated care/unreimbursed costs for 2020. Ben Taub Hospital in Houston and Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas each had uncompensated care costs exceeding $670 million.  

Eight of the top 20 hospitals by total uncompensated care are in New York, four are in Texas and three are in Florida. These hospitals represent large metropolitan medical centers that serve huge communities of people. Figures from 2020 are no doubt affected by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and resulting layoffs or delays of care. 

Healthcare Insights are developed with data from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the highest quality healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers. 

Explore our data