The most profitable and profitable hospitals in northwestern Pennsylvania had one thing in the fiscal 2020-21. Both are part of LECOM Health.
Corry Memorial Hospital earned 16.96% and 22.78%, the highest among acute hospitals in the region, according to a report released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council by an independent statewide agency.
Millcreek Community Hospital, however, had an operating deficit of 22.07%, the highest of any hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania, and a total deficit of 4.26%.
Marcus Babia, chief operating officer of Millcreek Community, said in a statement that the deficits were partly due to “changes in the functioning of the LECOM Health System.”
“In addition, losses have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (which was the period when the CMS eliminated elective procedures) due to staff shortages and increased costs associated with hiring agency nursing staff,” Babiak said in a statement. To Medicare and Medicaid Service Centers.
Babiak did not specify any changes in operation. Efforts to seek additional comments from LECOM Health were unsuccessful.
One of the additional reasons for the Millcreek Community’s struggles is the high percentage of revenue it receives from treating Medical Care patients. It accounted for 35.56% of hospital patient revenue in fiscal 2020-21, more than the highest of any hospital in the region and more than double the state average.
At present, the rates of reimbursement for patients with Medical Assistance are so low that they do not cover the costs, LECOM Health officials said in the past.
Despite being part of the same health care system and facing the same challenges as the Millcree Community, Corry Memorial published some of the best financial numbers in recent history. Its operating profit rose from 9.62% to 16.96% in fiscal year 2020-21.
A key difference is that Corry Memorial is a critical access hospital, a designation that allows the federal government to pay 101% of a hospital’s costs to treat Medicare patients. Corry Memorial’s patient income for Medicare was 54.37% in fiscal year 2020-21, one of the highest in northwestern Pennsylvania.
UPMC Hamot, Saint Vincent Hospital is making strong profits
Two of the largest hospitals in northwestern Pennsylvania reported strong funding despite a COVID-19 pandemic.
UPMC Hamot had the highest net patient income among hospitals in northwestern Pennsylvania. Hamot earned $ 501 million in fiscal year 2020-2021 and earned an operating profit of 11.98%.
More:UPMC Hamot has recorded financial revenues despite the COVID-19 pandemic
“Of the 160 acute hospitals in the state, one-third of them lost money (in fiscal 2020-21), so the challenges are real,” said Bradley Dinger, Hamot’s chief financial officer. “However, Hamot was on the rise. Being part of the UPMC health care system helped us get through the onset of the pandemic.”
Like many other hospitals in Pennsylvania, Hamot received millions of dollars in government relief funding in 2020 to replace some of the revenue from patients lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Relief funding is not included in the net income of hospital patients, although it is included in determining their operating profits / deficits.
More:UPMC Hamot receives $ 14 million in CARES funding to replace lost revenue due to COVID pandemic
Saint Vincent Hospital also had a strong operating profit of 12.43% and a total profit of 12.69%, although net patient income fell from $ 319 million to $ 316 million.
“AHN Saint Vincent reports by calendar year, so PHC4’s results reflect January-December 2020, and Saint Vincent was as influential in COVID as any other hospital in the United States during this period,” said Rand Levis, Chief Financial Officer of Saint Vincent. . , he said in a text. “To manage the rise in COVID cases, AHN and Saint Vincent reduced the number of elective surgeries over a period of time, which reduced patients’ net income, but also the costs of those surgeries.”
Meadville Medical Center improved its finances from fiscal 2019-20, with net patient income rising by about $ 6 million after falling by $ 11 million the previous year. Crawford County Hospitals had an operating profit of 7.87% and a total profit of 12.23% in fiscal 2020-21, 1.25% and 2.37% in fiscal 2019-20, respectively.
The following are the net income, operating margins, and total margins of patients in the 2020-2021 fiscal year for Erie and Crawford County Acute Hospitals:
- UPMC Hamot – $ 501 million, 11.98%, 12.03%
- * Saint Vincent Hospital – $ 316 million, 12.43%, 12.69%
- Meadville Medical Center – $ 193 million, 7.87%, 12.23%
- LECOM Health’s Millcreek Community Hospital – $ 52 million, – 22.07%, – 4.26%
- Titusville Area Hospital – $ 48 million, 7.66%, 9.79%
- CEC Memorial Hospital at LECOM Health – $ 20 million, 16.96%, 22.78%
* Saint Vincent’s financial numbers are from the 2020 calendar year.
Contact David Bruce at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.