Pennsylvanians See Billions in Economic, Community Benefits from Hospitals in their Communities

Pennsylvania’s hospitals support $186.5 billion in economic impact, and generated 627,255 jobs

Harrisburg, PA (November 20, 2024)—As Pennsylvania ages and looks to revitalize its economy, hospitals are more important than ever to the health and vitality of communities. To meet these needs, the commonwealth’s hospitals have invested nearly $10 billion in strengthening the health of their communities, while supporting 1 in 9 jobs statewide and 19 percent of the commonwealth’s gross domestic product, an analysis released today by The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) indicates.

The analysis of fiscal year (FY) 2023 data by the HAP Center for Health Policy Research reveals that Pennsylvania hospitals—both directly and through the ripple effects of their economic activity—benefitted their communities and the commonwealth by:

• Contributing $186.5 billion to the state and local economies.
• Supporting 627,255 jobs throughout the entire commonwealth.
• Generating $38.6 billion in wages, salaries, and benefits.

Hospitals’ nearly $10 billion community benefit includes investments in areas such as enhancing community health, providing charity care to patients in need, training and educating the next generation of health care professionals, conducting lifesaving medical research, and absorbing costs associated with caring for millions of Pennsylvanians covered by Medicare and Medicaid.

These investments come as hospitals face significant financial strain. More than half of the commonwealth’s acute care hospitals operated at a loss during FY 2023.

“Ensuring hospitals’ long-term sustainability is critical not only to health, but also economic development, in Pennsylvania communities,” HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings said. “Hospitals support good jobs and drive economic impact that ripples across other industries. They provide services that residents need, and that businesses look for in deciding where to locate and expand.”

Additional key findings of the analysis include:

• 57 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have at least one hospital among their top 10 employers and in 22 of them, a hospital is the largest employer.
• Hospitals’ economic impact has increased 67 percent over the past decade.
• Pennsylvania hospital jobs pay, on average, about 9 percent higher than the statewide average wage for all sectors.
• Hospitals invested $1.2 billion educating the next generation of health professionals.
• Hospitals and universities with hospital-affiliated medical schools secured $1.9 billion in highly competitive federal research funding to advance health care innovation.

The report, an infographic summary, and an interactive web page are available online.