Dive Brief:
- Vidant Health, which operates eight hospitals in North Carolina, reported declines in both inpatient and outpatient volumes that resulted in a 15% drop in operating surplus in fiscal year 2014.
- Inpatient admissions dropped 4%, or 2.7% when adjusted for outpatient activity. The system saw a less than 1% decline in outpatient activity. ER visits rose by 1.6%.
- The company reported an operating surplus of $79.4 million on revenues of $1.6 billion for the year ended September 30. In 2013, its operating surplus was $94.3 million on revenues of $1.6 billion.
Dive Insight:
Vidant Health has been in the news a few times this year as it struggles to cope with the industry-wide shift to out-patient care. In July, the hospital was at the center of the saga in which a North Carolina mayor, Adam O'Neal, walked 300 miles to advocate for his small-town hospital. In February, Vidant bought Pungo hospital in 2011 with the promise of strengthening and maintaining it but instead opted to close the hospital. O'Neal went on a pilgrimage to DC to seek help to keep the facility open. The closure is still a source of controversy.
Want to read more? Read our two-part story of the 'Save Our Hospital' Saga.
Vidant also recently announced the creation of a new shared-services operating company with two other North Carolina hospitals. The providers, which are not direct competitors, will remain independently run; there will be no mergers or acquisitions. Instead, they will use the operating company to share supply chain management, clinical protocols and information technology infrastructure. All three organizations plan to increase their workforce through new hiring because of the affiliation.