Hospital bad debt is on the rise in the U.S., with more than one-third of active hospitals reporting more than $10 million in unrecovered funds. Of the 25 hospitals on our list, eight reported bad debt that was greater than their net patient revenue in fiscal year 2017. The high rates of bad debt could be attributed to many factors, including high percentages of uninsured patients, lack of revenue cycle management, and more.
The average bad debt ratio for the hospitals on our list is over 105 percent, with the median being just under 82 percent. All 25 hospitals reported a combined $2.3 billion in bad debt, with an average of $95 million.
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| Definitive ID | Hospital Name | Bad Debt Ratio | Total Bad Debt | Net Patient Revenue | Explore This Dataset | |
| 1. | 4153 | Hendrick Medical Center | 211.5% | $134,318,079 | $63,505,002 | Explore This Profile |
| 2. | 829 | Lehigh Regional Medical Center | 131.9% | $52,656,781 | $39,925,672 | Explore This Profile |
| 3. | 1636 | Southeastern KY Medical Center | 127.9% | $8,649,454 | $6,761,585 | Explore This Profile |
| 4. | 3913 | Dallas Regional Medical Center | 117.7% | $111,241,984 | $94,509,679 | Explore This Profile |
| 5. | 551805 | Florence Hospital | 102.4% | $19,736,000 | $19,268,197 | Explore This Profile |
| 6. | 4680 | Gov Juan F Luis Hospital & Medical Center | 99.7% | $33,979,778 | $34,091,376 | Explore This Profile |
| 7. | 4289 | Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital | 96.8% | $83,906,815 | $86,651,048 | Explore This Profile |
| 8. | 5236 | Liberty - Dayton Community Hospital | 95.3% | $5,272,798 | $5,532,409 | Explore This Profile |
| 9. | 1043 | Polk Medical Center | 94.5% | $30,454,211 | $32,213,785 | Explore This Profile |
| 10. | 963 | Southern Regional Medical Center | 93.9% | $134,330,059 | $142,991,756 | Explore This Profile |
| 11. | 1121 | Jackson Park Hospital & Medical Center | 93.2% | $74,046,188 | $79,466,162 | Explore This Profile |
| 12. | 777090 | Arizona General Hospital - Laveen | 92.9% | $71,820,474 | $77,345,233 | Explore This Profile |
| 13. | 6108 | Jenkins County Medical Center | 87.8% | $6,277,947 | $7,146,401 | Explore This Profile |
| 14. | 3848 | CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Beeville | 82.4% | $27,684,671 | $33,589,041 | Explore This Profile |
| 15. | 48 | Vaughan Regional Medical Center | 79.8% | $48,946,974 | $61,327,741 | Explore This Profile |
| 16. | 3950 | Ennis Regional Medical Center | 76.5% | $16,647,748 | $21,763,728 | Explore This Profile |
| 17. | 3954 | University Medical Center of El Paso | 76.0% | $199,399,125 | $262,195,376 | Explore This Profile |
| 18. | 4147 | John Peter Smith Hospital | 73.8% | $311,197,359 | $421,402,209 | Explore This Profile |
| 19. | 4057 | CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Alice | 73.8% | $37,266,919 | $50,481,926 | Explore This Profile |
| 20. | 5558 | Calhoun Liberty Hospital | 72.0% | $5,107,039 | $7,096,213 | Explore This Profile |
| 21. | 4066 | CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Kleberg | 66.9% | $29,244,450 | $43,705,526 | Explore This Profile |
| 22. | 3929 | Methodist Richardson Medical Center | 66.0% | $18,626,125 | $28,237,587 | Explore This Profile |
| 23. | 3010 | FirstHealth Montgomery Memorial Hospital | 63.8% | $8,050,566 | $12,620,643 | Explore This Profile |
| 24. | 3982 | CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center - Longview | 63.8% | $151,625,653 | $237,708,377 | Explore This Profile |
| 25. | 4034 | Mission Regional Medical Center | 62.3% | $74,349,849 | $119,342,316 | Explore This Profile |
Fig 1. Data from Definitive Healthcare's Hospitals & IDNs database. Bed debt to net patient revenue and other financial information from CMS cost report period ending December 31, 2019. Data is from October 2020 Medicare Cost Report.