Dive Brief:
- St. Louis-based Ascension reports that its total operating revenue dropped $122.1 million over the last half of 2017 compared to the previous year.
- The hospital operator pegged the decrease to its divestiture of Saint Joseph Hospital and Door County Hospital, as well as sales trends from 2016. Uncompensated care increased $56 million (6.1%), and total operating expenses increased $162.7 million (1.5%) over the same period.
- But net patient service revenue on a same facility basis increased by $121.9 million (1.2%) over the period.
Dive Insight:
Ascension, which recently signed a definitive agreement to have Presence Health join AMITA Health, is also in talks to buy Providence St. Joseph Health, the Wall Street Journal reported late last year.
The Presence Health deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, according to the Ascension report discussing the financial results.
The report also calls out uncertainty over the future of the Affordable Care Act as one driver of the shifts in patient volumes. Total admissions dropped from 397,264 over the last six months of 2016 to 381,209 for the same period in 2017.
“[W]hile the operating results reflect the System’s continued operational improvement initiatives and focus on standardization, expected declines in volumes, rising costs, and increased uncompensated care continue to adversely impact performance,” the report states.
Ascension’s long-term investments measured a return of $960.9 million (5.8%) over the last six months of 2017.