Hospitals across the U.S. are seeing labor costs rise and are increasingly bringing in contracted workers to keep their facilities staffed.
Average hospital contract labor expenses were nearly $4.6 million in 2020, more than double the average expense of $2.2 million in 2011, according to Definitive Healthcare, a Framingham, Mass.-based company that provides data, analytics and insights on the healthcare industry.
In 2020, hospital contract labor spend ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $280 million, according to an analysis of data from about 3,100 U.S. hospitals by Definitive Healthcare. A hospital in Minnesota spent more than $286 million on contract labor in 2020, the most of any U.S. hospital.
Here are the 10 hospitals with the highest contract labor expenses, according to the analysis of 2020 Medicare cost report data accessed in December 2021.
1. Mayo Clinic Hospital, Saint Marys Campus (Rochester, Minn.) — $286.8 million
2. Fontana (Calif.) Medical Center — $200.2 million
3. Los Angeles Medical Center — $176.3 million
4. Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center (San Diego) — $156.7 million
5. Kaiser Permanente Oakland (Calif.) Medical Center — $142.2 million
6. Kaiser Permanente Roseville (Calif.) Medical Center — $126.9 million
7. Orange County-Anaheim (Calif.) Medical Center — $123 million
8. Santa Clara (Calif.) Medical Center — $118.3 million
9. South Sacramento (Calif.) Medical Center — $112.5 million
10. Downey (Calif.) Medical Center — $109.1 million
Access the full list of hospitals with the highest contract labor expenses here.