Texas Health Resources, the system that treated the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S., reported that patient volume at its affected Dallas hospital is returning to normal levels.
The Arlington, Texas-based system said Friday in a supplemental filing for bondholders (PDF) that daily net revenue at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas has returned to the same level it was before the hospital treated Thomas Eric Duncan in early October.
In addition, the hospital's daily census was just 2.3% below average for the first two weeks of December, after falling as low as 22.2% below average for October.
The Dallas hospital's emergency room suffered the most severe hit as a result of the crisis when it was placed on diversionary status between Oct. 12 and 20. As a result of that move, the emergency department saw a 53.3% drop in visits during the first 20 days of October. Between Dec. 1 and 15, however, ED volume was just 3.7% below average.
Surgeries in its operating rooms also have returned to normal levels after dropping as much as 25% between Oct. 1 and 20.
Texas Health's other hospitals did not experience a decline in revenue or volume, the filing said.
The system warned in October that net revenue that month at Presbyterian Hospital had declined $8.1 million, or 25.6%, as it was still reeling under public scrutiny into whether it had done enough to prevent Duncan's death and stop the spread of the virus to two of its nurses.
On Friday, it said it also has spent $6 million on Ebola-related patient care and triage, supplies, decontamination, transportation, legal fees, communications, professional services and additional security and support staffing. On the whole, however, the event did not have a material impact on its finances, it added.
The surveillance period for community members and healthcare workers expired Nov. 7 without further Ebola cases being found, the filing stated.
Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher
