Last year, the economic impact of Illinois hospitals and health systems was $83.4 billion, and almost half that total went toward salaries and benefits of employees, according to a report from the Illinois Hospital Association.
As of February, the IHA encompassed 222 hospitals, more than half of which are large urban facilities. All of the state's hospitals employed 200,000 people directly and led to another 250,000 indirect jobs, which resulted in $38.6 billion in payroll. Last year, Illinois hospitals also spent $34.8 billion on goods and services and another $10 billion on capital projects, like hospital expansions.
The lion's share of benefits occurred in the Chicagoland area, which totaled $58.1 billion of the economic impact.
Other major findings from the IHA's report include:
• More than one in three Illinois hospitals had a negative operating margin in the most recent fiscal year. Another 10 percent had an operating margin of less than 2 percent.
• Margins were worst among hospitals in central Illinois, where almost 40 percent operated in the red in the most recent fiscal year.
• Hospitals' community benefits, which include the cost of charity care and the amount of Medicare and Medicaid underpayments, topped $5.2 billion.
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