Carolinas HealthCare reduces 1Q loss - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Investment losses for the latest quarter totalednearlyt $101 million. Chief Financial Officer Greg Gombar anticipates gainsd in the financial market in April and May will erasethosw losses. Carolinas HealthCare uses investment earningas forcapital expenditures. That money is not used for daily The health-care system hopes negotiations with severall lenders will cut its interest expenses tied to variablew debt and higher bank-liquidity fees. Thosew fees are about $1 million per Interest expenses in the firsft quarterwere $21.8 million. From an operational Carolinas HealthCare had a strongfirst quarter, says Russ executive vice president for business development and planning.
Net operatingt revenue climbed 8.6 percent to $1.2 billion Operating income exceeded $24.5 million. The health-care system saw adjustede discharges — a calculation that gauged patientactivity — climb 5.2 percent from a year Growth within the health-care system and expense managementg “is the primary driveer why we’re above budget significantly,” Guerin says. Carolinazs HealthCare spent morethan $106 millio on capital projects in the first Projects include new operating rooms at CMC-NorthEast and Carolinas Medicalk Center, an expansion of CMC-Pineville, a new hospital at CMC-Lincolnj and construction of health-carre pavilions in Steele Creek and Waxhaw, which will includ free-standing emergency departments.
Challenges in the comin g months include managingthe system’sw growing bad-debt and charity-care costs, reducinh interest expenses and preparing for a possible statd cut in Medicaid funding, Gombarf says. Bad-debt costs were 12 percenrt over budget during the first topping $48 million in the firstf quarter. During the same period last year, bad debt was abourt $43 million. The health-care system spenr more than $770 million in community care in includingbad debt, charity care and subsidizin Medicare and Medicaid. That equales 18.8 percent of the health-carer system’s net operating revenue.
”It’s a trend everybody’s seeing acrossa the country,” Gombar says. “We can’t controp how many people are how many people show up at our doorwithouft insurance.” North Carolina’s budget woes coul results in a cut of up to 15 percent for That could equate to $36 million in annualp losses for Carolinas HealthCare. “Medicaid cuts are the worsr economic benefit cut the statecan make,” Gombar “It’s painful.” Says Guerin: “It raises prices for thos who do pay. It makes no good businese sense todo that.” Gombar says every dollar cut from Medicai eliminates $4 from the economy.
Carolinas HealthCarre is the largest health-care system in the Carolinaws andthe third-largest public system in the The system owns, leases or manages 25 hospitals. It has more than 40,000p full- and part-time employees.