Despite financial hardships last year, AMCs continue to lean into their mission of providing advanced care, research and education to their communities.
In 2022, capital spending for AMCs was up 23.4 percent to 1.3x depreciation, reflecting their focus on supporting high-end services, according to a Sept. 8 report from Moody's Investor Services. Comparatively, non-AMCs had a 5.3 percent bump in capital spending to 1.1x depreciation last year, which is below historical averages.
The median operating cash flow margins for academic medical centers declined to 4.8 percent last year from 8.1 percent in 2021, dropping at nearly the same rate as non-AMCs, according to the report. AMCs historically have had lower operating cash flow margins than non-AMCs; they did report a stronger median revenue growth of 6.1 percent in 2022.
Inpatient volume has also nearly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and length of stay increased 3.8 percent last year, reflecting the higher acuity cases done at AMCs.
AMC liquidity fell last year from record highs in 2021. Cash on hand was down 25.6 percent to 218 days on average for AMCs, primarily due to Medicare advance repayments and investment losses, according to Moody's.