Fees charged by hospital-owned outpatient clinics and practices climbed 1.3 percent last year, while the number of patients paying the fees declined, according to the Office of Health Strategy.
The $422.9 million in so-called facility fees, up from $417.6 million in 2017, was the highest total since the state started tracking the data in 2015 (fees totaled $405.8 million that year).
While fee revenue increased, the number of patient visits that resulted in a facility fee fell to their lowest level yet, dropping 10 percent, or nearly 125,000, to a total of 1.1 million visits.
Of 23 hospitals included in OHS’ report, 13 reported higher facility fee revenue, while several were flat and the rest were down. Meanwhile, nine of the 23 reported an increase in facility fee visits, while the majority of hospitals saw a decrease.
For the fourth year in a row, Stamford Hospital reported the highest amount of facility fee net revenue in 2018, while Yale New Haven Health had the highest number of facility fee patient visits, according to OHS data.
Amid concerns that hospital consolidation and acquisitions were leading to higher fee costs, state legislators in 2014 passed a law requiring disclosure and tracking of facility fees.
