Sloan-Kettering sees higher outpatient volume, payment rates

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center saw an 89.1% increase in its operating surplus in the first half of the year from improved payment rates and higher outpatient volume.

The New York-based specialty cancer hospital said its revenue increased 10.9% (PDF) to $1.6 billion. Even though admissions declined 2.4%, Sloan-Kettering booked higher revenue per day from better payment rates. Outpatient visits increased 3.4%.

With the state expanding its Medicaid program, Sloan-Kettering's share of Medicaid patients increased 0.8 percentage points to account for 2.5% of patient revenue, while revenue from self-pay patients declined 1.3 percentage points to 11.8%.

The cancer hospital is in-network in two of the nine health plans offered on New York's insurance marketplace and has out-of-network agreements with two others.

On the expense side, Sloan-Kettering saw a 6.5% increase in its operating costs as it added about 576 full-time equivalent employees to accommodate higher patient volume and more research projects. Its pharmaceutical costs jumped 13% due to more patients, higher drug prices, the addition of Genentech's newly approved Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab) for breast cancer, and the conversion of anti-nausea drug fosaprepitant to an IV formula from an oral drug.

After accounting for non-operating income and expenses, Sloan-Kettering reported a total increase of net assets of $96.8 million compared with $189.6 million in the first half of 2013.

In September, Sloan-Kettering launched an alliance of community cancer-care providers with Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare, a five-hospital system, as its inaugural member. Terms of the agreement, which focuses on improving clinical outcomes and sharing research, were not disclosed.

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