While NYU Langone Health’s hospital system consistently yields some of the nation’s highest profits, medical accounting experts have noted that it allocates a smaller percentage of its expenses on charity care than other nonprofit hospitals. A spokesperson for the medical center said the analysis was based on unrepresentative data.
NYU Langone made $14.2 billion in operating revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, with a 3% operating margin. The medical center spent about $108 million on charity care, defined as unreimbursed free or discounted treatment for patients unable to pay for services. The hospital’s charity care expenses comprised 1.2% of its total expenses — while the nationwide average was 2.6% in 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Steve Ritea, a spokesperson for NYU Langone, told WSN that the 2.6% average in 2020 reported by KFF was “a complete anomaly” because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that NYU Langone did not include pandemic-related expenses in its charity care numbers that year. KFF’s 2020 report, however, said that the 2.6% was consistent with previous years — with 2019’s average at 2.7%.
Ritea also told WSN that 25% of NYU Langone’s patients participate in Medicaid enrollment, meaning fewer people need the charity care because they have other forms of coverage.
“One important figure not reflected in the charity care percentage is that our health system also provides free care to anyone who is at 600% or less of the federal poverty level and provides a substantial discount on the cost of care to anyone up to 800% of the federal poverty level,” Ritea wrote in a statement to WSN. “These thresholds are several hundred percent higher than other health systems.”
Nonprofit hospitals like NYU Langone are eligible for tax exemptions in exchange for providing “community benefits,” such as charity care. In March, a report by the Lown Institute claimed NYU Langone withheld $222 million excess in tax breaks, alleging that the medical center did not spend enough on “community contributions” to warrant its benefits. At the time, Ritea told WSN the claims were “disappointing” and that the data used was not representative of the center’s spending.
NYU Langone’s financial report documented a $1.8 billion, or 14.2%, increase in operating revenue since 2023. Ritea said the gain represented spending limits on supply and staff, as well as the hospital’s overall volume growth.
The medical center has recently spent millions expanding its network throughout all five boroughs of New York City, New Jersey and Florida. It invested $500 million into expanding a hospital in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn and purchased its fourth building in Florida for $33 million last February. NYU Langone has attributed much of its motivation for expansion to providing care for underserved communities.
“NYU Langone has among the lowest lengths of stay and cost-adjusted discharge rates both locally and nationally,” Ritea said. “Matched with our top-quality care, this allows us to have a greater impact across all of the communities that we serve.”
Contact Chantal Mann at news@nyunews.com.
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