The largest not-for-profit health systems in the U.S. are generally reporting strong operating margins for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
This week Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health reported that its operating surplus was 56.8% higher in the quarter, the first of its fiscal 2015, compared with the same period last year. The improvement was credited in part to higher outpatient and emergency-room visits.
Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health and Services, meanwhile, said recent deals have made up for weak volume on a same-facility basis. The system also noted that the states where it operates most of its hospitals--California, Oregon and Washington--have expanded Medicaid. The system's Medicaid revenue was up 19% in the first nine months of the year.
Ascension Health is the outlier so far, reporting that higher costs dampened its performance. Investment losses, meanwhile, produced a net loss for the St. Louis-based system for the first quarter of its fiscal 2015.
Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, another system in the top tier of not-for-profits by revenue, is expected to file its results for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 in the coming weeks.
