Author Archives: henrykotula

7 health systems reported profits over $1B in 2021

Posted on by • Posted in Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Market Consolidation, Market Power, Market Share, Mergers & Acquisitions, Net Income, Nonoperating Income, Operating Expenses, Operating Income, Operating Margin, Operating Metrics, Operating Performance, Operating Revenue • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/7-health-systems-reported-profits-over-1b-in-2021.html?origin=PayerE&utm_source=PayerE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G

While many hospitals face financial hardships and rising expenses from the COVID-19 pandemic, several large health systems ended 2021 with profits above $1 billion.

These big health systems attributed the financial performance to several factors, including bigger investment gains and higher-acuity patients. 

Seven health systems that posted net income of $1 billion last year:

1. Pittsburgh-based UPMC, an integrated delivery system with 40 hospitals, recorded a net income of $1.1 billion in 2021, driven by an operating income of $843 million and nonoperating gains of $810 million.

2. AdventHealth, a 48-hospital system based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., recorded a net income of $1.5 billion in 2021. The net income included an operating income of $994.6 million and investment gains of $517.7 million. In 2020, the health system’s net income was $914.8 million.

3. Cleveland Clinic reported a 66.7 percent increase in net income for the 12 months ended Dec. 31. The 19-hospital system saw its net income hit $2.2 billion, including an operating income of $746.3 million and investment gains of $1.4 billion. 

4. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic’s net income for 2021 was $3.6 billion, up from $2.5 billion a year earlier. The results included an operating income of $1.2 billion. 

5. Driven by strong investment gains, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente recorded a net income of $8.1 billion in 2021, an increase of $1.7 billion from 2020. The sharp rise in net income from the integrated delivery system with 39 hospitals included $7.5 billion in other income, including investment gains, and $611 million in operating income for 2021. 

6. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, a 182-hospital system, reported a net income of $7.7 billion in 2021, including investment gains and operating profits. 

7. Tenet Healthcare, a 60-hospital system based in Dallas, reported net income of $1.5 billion on revenues of $19.5 billion in 2021. Tenet ended the 12-month period with an operating income of $2.9 billion, up from $2 billion recorded one year before. It also recorded losses on nonoperating activities and said its results for the year ending Dec. 31 included a pretax gain of $406 million associated with the divestiture of five Miami area hospitals, as well as stimulus funds totaling $205 million.

The winter jobs boom

Posted on by • Posted in Employee Compensation, Federal Reserve, Inflation, Interest Rates, Job Creation, Job Growth, Job Market, Labor Market, Market Outlook, Wage Growth • Leave a comment
https://www.axios.com/jobs-report-february-d85d2cba-012a-4fdf-966f-e70bedb3c10a.html?stream=top&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts_all

It was a winter of surging job creation. Employers created jobs on a mass scale, Americans returned to the workforce, and the labor market shrugged off the Omicron variant and its broader pandemic funk.

  • That’s the takeaway from the February jobs report, which showed employers added 678,000 jobs last month. December and January job growth was better than previously thought, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%.

Why it matters: Yes, inflation is high as prices rose 7.5% over the last year as of January, and could rise higher as disruptions from the Ukraine war ripple through the economy.

  • But rising prices are coming amid an astonishingly rapid jobs boom.

Between the lines: The report shows the pandemic impact is fading. But some analysts warn not to expect this level of gains to continue as the crisis in Ukraine cuts into growth.

  • “The improvement in the American labor market is now very much a rearview mirror phenomenon,” economist Joe Brusuelas wrote in a research note.

One big surprise: Wage growth was essentially nonexistent, with average hourly earnings rising only a penny to $31.58.

  • That may reflect the nature of the jobs being added — disproportionately in the low-paying leisure and hospitality sector.
  • That is good news for those worried that rising wages and prices will drive further inflation. It is worse news for workers, whose average pay gain of 5.1% over the last year is far below inflation.

The share of adults in the labor force — which includes those looking for work — ticked up, as did the share of the population that’s actually employed. That suggests the robust job growth is pulling people back into the workforce, if gradually.

  • The labor force participation rate was 62.3% in February, more than a percentage point below its level two years ago, before the pandemic.

State of play: The Federal Reserve is set to begin an interest rate hiking campaign on March 16, amid high inflation and new geopolitical uncertainty from the Ukraine war. The new numbers are unlikely to change that one way or the other.

How the supply chain crisis is worsening the workforce crisis

Posted on by • Posted in Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Nurses, Patient Outcomes, Patient Safety, Supply Chain • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/7788648545f0/the-weekly-gist-february-25-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

In our recent conversations with executives, we’ve heard that the workforce crisis continues to be the most urgent issue confronting health systems.

It’s a many-sided problem: early retirements hitting the nursing staff, leading to an overall loss of experience; early and mid-career nurses choosing to work for temporary staffing agencies for much higher pay, resulting in increased labor costs and resentment among remaining nurses; and a rising vacancy rate made more challenging by difficulty competing for talent against others offering higher pay and less stressful work environments.

But one factor undermining frontline nurse engagement hadn’t occurred to us, until we heard a chief nursing officer describe it this week. The lingering supply chain crisis is forcing hospitals to change where they purchase basic items—think IV tubing and bags, surgery kits, some basic drugs—which in turn forces nurses to adapt to using unfamiliar supplies on the fly, making for a less predictable work environment. On a busy and staff-constrained nursing unit, even small changes to standard procedures can be incredibly frustrating for nurses, and even lead to patient safety issues. Just another way in which the current environment is creating unprecedented pressure on healthcare workers, with little prospect for improvement anytime soon.