Hospital labour, supplies and EBITDA
FTEs per bed, wage inflation, contract labour, supplies.
By Surojit Chakraverti, founder of L3VLUP and an investor running a long-short healthcare and technology equities strategy.
On this subject: hospital labour, supplies and ebitda.Updated 4 November 2026
Part of healthcare financial models, with the models, labs and guides around it.
What it does
The cost of running the beds. Staff follow adjusted occupied beds through a staffing ratio, and each full-time equivalent costs salaries and benefits that compound at wage inflation; hours worked by agency staff cost a premium on top. Labour is the largest cost and the one that moves the margin, because wages can outrun the prices payers allow. Supplies follow adjusted admissions, other operating costs follow revenue, and rent is fixed, which together leave EBITDA.
Where it lives
The same schedule in each model that carries it, with the rows to open. Open a model in the browser, go to the sheet, and click the lines.
- Assumptions, rows 40–55: FTEs per adjusted occupied bed, Salaries and benefits per FTE, FY0, Wage inflation, base, Wage inflation, payer mix shift…
- Operating Costs, rows 6–14: FTEs, Wage inflation, Salaries and benefits per FTE, Contract labour share of hours…
- Operating Costs, rows 17–21: Supplies per adjusted admission, Supplies, Other operating expenses, Rent and lease expense…
- Operating Costs, rows 24–27: EBITDA, EBITDA margin, EBITDA growth, Check: labour cost - FTEs x cost per FTE x labour mix
What a reviewer looks for
- Labour as a share of revenue.
- Contract labour at the employed rate.
- Supplies per admission, ignoring outpatient work.
Learn it, then build it
Vocabulary: EBITDA.