Average value of hospital buildings in the U.S.

The business of healthcare involves a lot of assets. These assets are captured on balance sheets and can be divided into three main categories: land, buildings, and equipment. Some are moveable while others are fixed, meaning they can’t be moved from place to place.  

Buildings are one such fixed asset. In this Healthcare Insight, we look at average building assets at U.S. hospitals and compare metrics by hospital bed size and location. Data used in this analysis is sourced from the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. 

What is the average value of hospital building assets? 

Based on data from more than 4,800 hospitals in the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, the average cost of building assets at U.S. hospitals was about $138.3 million in 2021. The total cost of building assets across U.S. hospitals was nearly $672.3 billion.  

Building costs include building improvements as well as all architectural, consulting, and legal fees related to the acquisition or construction of buildings, and interest paid for construction financing. 

Average building assets at U.S. hospitals, 2017-2021 

Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView data product. Data is sourced from the October 2022  Medicare Cost Report release. Results based on 4,862 U.S. hospitals with a reported building fixed asset metric, according to the most recent 12-month interval tracked in our database. Accessed January 2023. 

How much do hospital building assets increase each year? 

Costs associated with buildings at U.S. hospitals have increased by about 5.9% on average from 2017 to 2021. In comparison, total hospital operating expenses increase by about 5% each year.  

Average building assets by hospital bed size, 2021 

Fig. 2 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView data product. Data is sourced from the October 2022  Medicare Cost Report release. Results based on 4,862 U.S. hospitals with a reported building fixed asset metric. Accessed January 2023. 

The value of hospital buildings varies by size. Hospitals with more than 250 beds had the highest average building assets at $510.1 million. The high number of hospital beds means these hospitals are housed in larger, more expensive buildings. Hospitals with 25 or fewer beds had an average buildings value of $21.4 million.  

Average building assets by region, 2021 

Fig. 3 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView data product. Data is sourced from the October 2022  Medicare Cost Report release. Results based on 4,862 U.S. hospitals with a reported building fixed asset metric. Accessed January 2023. 

The value of hospital buildings also varies by location. The average building costs were highest for hospitals in the Northeast at nearly $220.9 million. This region also has higher expenses compared to other regions, including higher average salary expenses and IT expenses. Southwestern hospitals had the lowest values related to buildings.  

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Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.