Bon Secours Health System used strong investment income in the first quarter of its fiscal 2016 to mitigate lower operating income and eke out a higher net gain than the prior-year period.
The Catholic-sponsored system posted a net surplus of $18.7 million on revenue of $782.1 million for the quarter ended Nov. 30 compared with a net surplus of $18 million in the prior year's quarter on revenue of $756.2 million, according to the system's unaudited first-quarter financial statements released Friday.
Marriottsville, Md.-based Bon Secours Health System has been hiring hospitalists and advanced practice clinicians in an effort to improve quality and cut costs, the documents show. Between Aug. 31 and Nov. 30, 2015, employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians jumped from 780 to 837.
Investment income in the quarter jumped to $7.8 million after an investment loss of $3 million in the year-earlier quarter.
The results exclude the performance of Bon Secours Charity Health of New York, which in May was spun into a joint venture with Westchester Medical Center to create WMC Health Network-Rockland Inc.
The joint venture assumed a 60% controlling interest of the combined hospitals and assets, with Bon Secours Health System holding the remaining 40% interest.
Revenues for the quarter, excluding Charity, were stoked by a 10.7% increase in physician office visits, a 3.3% increase in emergency room visits and a 0.3% uptick in acute-care hospital discharges, the financial statements showed.
Operations at Bon Secours in Richmond, Va., remained the key driver of revenue and operating surplus for the entire system.
In the quarter it posted 43% of the system's revenue at $339.1 million and 97% of its operating surplus at $18.6 million, the documents show.
