New Report: Maine Hospitals Serve As Key Job Creators

Press Releases

Date: 03/28/2018

The Maine Hospital Association has released a new report that describes the economic contributions of hospitals in each Maine county.
 
The analysis quantifies hospitals’ economic contribution to Maine.  The results reveal a robust and growing industry making significant economic contributions across the state.
 
“Because it describes the impact in each county, this report allows hospitals to show the impact they have on their local economy,” said MHA President Steven Michaud.  “Maine hospitals' primary mission is to heal the sick and injured and improve the health of our communities, but a very important byproduct of that is the enormous economic contribution we make to our communities.”
 
In 2016, Maine hospitals directly employed almost 33,000 people and paid more than $2.5 billion in salaries and benefits.  Their total spending was $5.7 billion, including $5.5 billion in operating expenses and $231.8 million in capital expenditures.  As that money circulated through the Maine economy, it generated an additional $4.5 billion in indirect and induced economic activity, leading to a total economic contribution of more than $10 billion.  This supported a total of 67,000 jobs, $4 billion in wages and benefits and almost $400 million in state and local taxes. 
 
MHA worked with the firm 45 North, whose principals include two former Maine state economists. 

View the report here.
 
 

Date: 09/29/2017

The Maine Hospital Association Board of Directors has voted to support Medicaid Expansion referendum.

Date: 09/19/2017

The Maine Hospital Association today announced its opposition to the Cassidy-Graham bill to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 
 

Date: 06/21/2017

Northern Maine Medical Center Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Sirois was installed as chair of the Maine Hospital Association Board of Directors on Wednesday, June 21, at the Association’s annual Summer Forum at the Samoset Resort in Rockport. 
 

Date: 06/21/2017

Lois Latour, LCSW, EMMC’s critical care social worker, has spent countless hours in her career helping patients and families navigate the challenges during one of the most difficult times of their lives.
 
 

Date: 03/22/2017

The Maine Hospital Association (MHA) today urged Maine’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote against the American Health Care Act (AHCA), saying the legislation is bad for Maine hospitals and their patients. 
 

Date: 10/17/2016

The Maine Hospital Association is working with the Health Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association on a national initiative to reduce preventable hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Hospital Improvement Innovation Network contracts are part of a broader effort to transform our healthcare system into one that works better for the American people and for the Medicare program.
 

Date: 06/22/2016

Chuck Hays, chief executive officer of MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, was installed as chair of the Maine Hospital Association Board of Directors at the Association’s annual Summer Forum, on Wednesday, June 22, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.
 

Date: 06/22/2016

Kelly Hughes Wheeler has been selected the 2016 Maine Hospital Association (MHA) Caregiver of the Year. 
 

Date: 03/06/2015

Maine hospitals employ more than 35,000 people and help create nearly $9 billion in economic activity for the state.
 

Date: 06/25/2014

The Maine Hospital Association (MHA) is partnering with Let’s Go!, an award-winning obesity prevention program of The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, to help increase healthy eating and active living wherever kids live, learn, work and play.
 

Opinion Editorials

Date: 04/10/2012

Cost-shifting is real in Maine but Maine lawmakers have the power to keep it from becoming worse. 
 

Date: 04/12/2012

Maine offers higher quality hospital care than any other state in the country, according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov).
 

Date: 12/02/2011

One of our physician colleagues tells it like this: "Imagine being run over by a
Mack truck...
 

New Report: Maine Hospitals Serve As Key Job Creators

Released on 03/06/2015

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jeffrey Austin, 207-622-4794
 

Hospitals in Maine Directly Provide 4.5B to Economy

AUGUSTA, MAINE (March 6, 2015)—Maine hospitals employ more than 35,000 people and help create nearly $9 billion in economic activity for the state.
 
The economic contribution of hospitals, highlighted in a new report released by the American Hospital Association (AHA), is critical to communities.  In Maine, more than 12 percent of total employment is supported by hospital employment.  That’s the highest percentage of any state in the nation.
 
“In Maine, hospitals, in addition to being vital to their communities’ physical health, are also vital to those communities’ economic health,” said Steven Michaud, president of the Maine Hospital Association.  “In many parts of the state, not only are hospitals the only healthcare provider, they are the largest employers.”
 
Maine hospitals: 
  • Employ almost 36,000 individuals and support an additional 40,000 jobs elsewhere in the Maine economy through “ripple effects”;
  • Provide stability and growth during times of recession;
  • Spend $2.5 billion on wages and benefits; and
  • Are part of the Healthcare and Social Assistance sector, which is Maine’s largest economic sector in terms of number of jobs and wages paid.
According to the Maine Department of Labor, since 2000, more net jobs were generated in the health sector than in all other sectors combined.  Except for a slight decline in 2010, employment has increased every year for two decades.
 
“Employment within hospital settings is expected to increase much faster than average and account for the majority of job opportunities,” according to the Labor Department’s 2014 Health Occupations Report.