Conemaugh Meyersdale finishes 2025 in the red
Conemaugh Meyersdale Medical Center, one of two hospitals serving Somerset County, finished 2025 with a 14.65% operating loss, according to a new state report.
Conemaugh Meyersdale Medical Center, one of the two hospitals serving Somerset County, hit a rough patch last year, finishing the year in the red, with an operating loss of 14.65% on total operating revenue of $15.36 million, according to a new report.
Operating revenue for the year, which is generated by core medical services, was $15.36 million and operating expenses were $17.6 million, according to a new report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, a nonprofit, independent state agency based in Harrisburg that tracks health care costs and patient outcomes.
That means Meyersdale hospital lost 15 cents for every dollar of revenue it generated from providing core medical services in 2025, according to the report.
The 20-bed critical access hospital reported a loss from operations of $2.25 million in 2025 as net revenue from caring for patients slid 5.92% between 2022 and 2025, reflecting a deterioration in revenue from providing core medical care. The decrease in net patient revenue for the three years at Meyersdale was second highest in Pennsylvania only to the nonprofit Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County, which saw an 18.47% decline in net patient revenue for the three years.
Declining net revenue from treating patients over three years and last year’s operating red ink reflects the headwinds Meyersdale faces in running a rural hospital, which had the poorest operating margin in 2025 among Conemaugh Health System’s four central Pennsylvania hospitals.
And Meyersdale isn’t alone: 26% of the state’s 150 general acute care hospitals finished 2025 in the red, the council said. Many of them were small, rural hospitals.
The average operating margin in 2025 for hospitals in the Somerset County region was 6.5% and 7.15% statewide.
UPMC Somerset Hospital, for example, reported net income of $17.85 million and an operating margin of 6.6% for the year, while net patient revenue rose 9.74% between 2022 and 2025.
A UPMC spokeswoman cautioned against reading too much into the PHC4 results, saying “there is still significant variability in reporting practices across organizations, which limits the ability to compare results directly.”
In a statement, Conemaugh Health System said Meyersdale’s finances “reflect broader challenges facing many health care providers, particularly in rural communities.” Meyersdale hospital is “not at risk of closure and remains committed to serving the health care needs of Somerset County and the surrounding region.”
Conemaugh Health System operates two hospitals in Cambria County – Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, its 537-bed flagship facility in Johnstown; and Conemaugh Miners Medical Center in Hastings; Conemaugh Nason Medical Center in Blair County; and the Meyersdale hospital in Somerset County, which is the smallest in the Conemaugh system.
Conemaugh Meyersdale, which was founded in 1952, was part of the Conemaugh Health System that was acquired in 2014 by hospital provider Duke LifePoint of Brentwood, Tenn. Duke LifePoint was formed in 2011 in a joint venture by nonprofit Duke University Health System and investor-owned LifePoint Health, which operates hospitals in 20 states.
After the acquisition, Conemaugh’s hospitals became for-profit enterprises. In 2018, LifePoint Health was acquired by New York City-based Apollo Global Management, a private equity and asset management firm.
Since 2019, seven for-profit hospitals in Pennsylvania and Ohio’s Mahoning Valley have closed because of financial difficulties. They include Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia in 2019; four Delaware County hospitals operated by Prospect Medical Holdings in 2022 and 2025; and the closure of two hospitals owned by Steward Health Care in Warren, Ohio, just over the Pennsylvania line.
A third Steward hospital in Mercer County, Sharon Regional Medical Center, closed in bankruptcy for two months in 2025 before reopening under new ownership. But the 62-bed hospital continues to struggle financially and operate at a loss.