WakeMed, a not-for-profit Raleigh, N.C.-based health system, dug its way out of an operating deficit this past fiscal year, thanks to a decrease in interest expenses and a slight increase in operating revenue.
The two-hospital system reported an operating surplus of $4.19 million on $1.04 billion in revenue in the year ended Sept. 30, 2014, a significant rebound from a $14.43 million operating deficit on $1.02 billion in revenue the prior fiscal year. The system realized a 9.47% drop in interest expenses and a 1.72% increase in patient-service revenue.
Strong investment income also helped WakeMed boost its total surplus, which stood at about $29.29 million, up over 350% from $6.49 million the year before. The system's fiscal 2014 operating margin was 0.04% compared with -1.4% in the prior year.
Though fiscal 2014 is an improvement upon the prior year, the system is still far from where it was in 2012, when it boasted an $85.97 million total surplus and $52.63 million operating surplus on $1.09 billion in revenue.
WakeMed saw a 2% decrease in acute discharges in fiscal 2014, and a 3.65% decrease in patient days. The average daily census decreased by about 3.6%. Surgical procedures decreased by less than 2% while emergency department visits were up by 6.54%.
The system's payer mix remained relatively unchanged, with slight increases in Medicaid and managed-care payers.
WakeMed last year completed implementation of an EPIC electronic health-record system for physician practices and has begun an implementation process for hospitals that is expected to be completed in 2015. It expects to receive a total of $5 million in meaningful-use payments from both Medicare and Medicaid in fiscal 2015 for its use of EHRs, WakeMed said in its financial statement. WakeMed's physician practices received about $852,000 this past fiscal year.
The system also is set to open a 61-bed hospital in May, WakeMed North, located in northern Raleigh.
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