Healthcare Insights
Top 25 hospitals by medical supply costs
Supply chain costs account for a large portion of hospital expenses, averaging about 14% of total hospital operating expenses. These costs include not only necessary medical and surgical supplies, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and personal protective equipment (PPE), but also purchased services like food preparation or laundry and linens.
Supply costs are impacted by external factors like rising pharmaceutical prices, as well as internal expenses like physician preference items (PPIs). Though PPI spending and medical supply expenses are more discretionary than other hospital expenses, supply chain spending has been on an upward trend since at least 2014. According to data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, total supply expenses at U.S. hospitals increase by about 6% each year.
Using data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, below is a list of the top 25 U.S. hospitals by medical and surgical supply costs. Data is sourced from the Medicare Cost Report and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database.
Top U.S. hospitals by total medical and surgical supply costs
| Rank | Definitive ID | Hospital name | Location | Total medical/surgical supply costs | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2096 | University Hospital | Ann Arbor, MI | $1,230,399,082 | Explore |
| 2 | 541974 | NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center | New York, NY | $930,837,721 | Explore |
| 3 | 3015 | UNC Medical Center | Chapel Hill, NC | $898,149,606 | Explore |
| 4 | 274110 | UK Albert B Chandler Hospital (AKA Kentucky Hospital) | Lexington, KY | $896,905,332 | Explore |
| 5 | 3120 | Cleveland Clinic Main Campus | Cleveland, OH | $873,920,366 | Explore |
| 6 | 1365 | IU Health Methodist Hospital | Indianapolis, IN | $831,522,736 | Explore |
| 7 | 550 | UC San Diego Medical Center | San Diego, CA | $830,250,464 | Explore |
| 8 | 3623 | Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center | Charleston, SC | $828,769,081 | Explore |
| 9 | 851 | Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center | Miami, FL | $759,644,818 | Explore |
| 10 | 1678 | Norton Hospital | Louisville, KY | $722,493,272 | Explore |
| 11 | 3742 | Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Nashville, TN | $715,863,952 | Explore |
| 12 | 3421 | OHSU Hospital - Portland | Portland, OR | $696,531,212 | Explore |
| 13 | 5538 | UH Rainbow Babies & Childrens Hospital | Cleveland, OH | $686,482,427 | Explore |
| 14 | 3124 | University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center | Cleveland, OH | $686,470,654 | Explore |
| 15 | 1631 | The University of Kansas Hospital | Kansas City, KS | $655,913,639 | Explore |
| 16 | 4310 | University Hospital | Charlottesville, VA | $652,284,696 | Explore |
| 17 | 560 | UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights | San Francisco, CA | $632,289,463 | Explore |
| 18 | 2976 | Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center | Winston Salem, NC | $599,444,557 | Explore |
| 19 | 2191 | Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Campus | Rochester, MN | $585,197,664 | Explore |
| 20 | 2818 | Strong Memorial Hospital | Rochester, NY | $581,918,912 | Explore |
| 21 | 2837 | Mount Sinai Medical Center | New York, NY | $569,406,046 | Explore |
| 22 | 2035 | Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital | Grand Rapids, MI | $561,899,827 | Explore |
| 23 | 818 | Moffitt Cancer Center Magnolia Campus | Tampa, FL | $560,442,350 | Explore |
| 24 | 1914 | The Johns Hopkins Hospital | Baltimore, MD | $548,500,797 | Explore |
| 25 | 3138 | The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute | Columbus, OH | $541,314,548 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product and aggregated from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Data is sourced from the April 2023 Medicare Cost Report release. Accessed April 2023.
Which hospitals have the highest total medical supply costs?
University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan has the highest hospital medical supply costs among U.S. hospitals at more than $1.2 billion. It is the top hospital in the state of Michigan based on net patient revenue and one of the largest academic medical centers in the nation.
NewYork/Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center – a top hospital in New York and another leading academic medical center – is second on the list with nearly $931 million in hospital medical supply costs.
The remaining hospitals on the list are among the top U.S. hospitals by net patient revenue and include many academic medical centers and cancer centers. Four hospitals on the list are located in Ohio and three are in New York.
How much does a hospital spend on supplies?
Based on data from more than 4,100 hospitals in HospitalView, the average total supply expense is $38 million per hospital. On average, hospital supply expenses increased by more than 6% from 2017 to 2021.
In comparison, the average total medical and surgical supply expense for the 25 hospitals on the list is $723 million, or about 27% of total operating expenses.
What is included in total hospital supply costs?
Total hospital supply costs include:
- Medical/surgical supply costs
- Medical devices
- Implantable devices
- Drugs charged to patients
It also includes overhead costs such as:
- Buildings and fixtures
- Maintenance
- Operation of plant
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