Massachusetts Acute Hospital Profiles

Overview

An acute care hospital is licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and contains a majority of medical-surgical, pediatric, obstetric, and maternity beds. Acute care hospitals are categorized into 5 types: academic medical centers (AMCs), teaching hospitals, community hospitals, community-high public payer (HPP) hospitals, and specialty hospitals. Descriptions of these categories are in the Additional Information section below.

For analytical purposes, AMCs, teaching hospitals, community hospitals, and community-HPP hospitals are considered cohorts. Specialty hospitals are not considered a cohort due to their unique patient populations and services. However, specialty hospitals may be included in statewide analyses.

Additional Information

The data used for these profiles is a compilation of payer and provider-submitted data sources, including audited financial statements, hospital cost reports, hospital discharge data, and relative price data.

Academic Medical Centers (AMCs)

AMCs are a subset of teaching hospitals. AMCs are characterized by extensive research and teaching programs, comprehensive resources for tertiary and quaternary care, being principal teaching hospitals for their respective medical schools, and being full-service hospitals with case mix intensity greater than 5 percent above the statewide average.

Teaching Hospitals

Teaching hospitals report at least 25 full-time equivalent medical school residents per 100 inpatient beds in accordance with the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and are not classified as AMCs or Specialty Hospitals.

Community Hospitals

Community hospitals that do not meet the MedPAC definition to be classified as teaching hospitals and have a public payer mix of less than 63 percent.

Community-High Public Payer (HPP) Hospitals

Community HPP hospitals are community hospitals that have 63 percent or greater of Gross Patient Service Revenue attributable to Medicare, MassHealth, and other government payers, including the Health Safety Net.

Specialty Hospitals

These hospitals are not considered a cohort for comparison and analysis due to the unique patient populations they serve and/or the unique sets of services they provide. Specialty hospitals may be included in statewide analyses.