After a year of cost-cutting, CommonSpirit Health is looking to add ambulatory care capacity next year.
The health system plans to add more facilities for ambulatory patients in the coming year, as care continues to move outside of the hospital, it said in financial documents released Wednesday. The nonprofit system recently added 19 imaging centers, seven ambulatory surgery centers and six primary and urgent care sites across multiple states, including California and Texas. In May, the system acquired five Utah hospitals and more than 35 clinics from Steward Health Care.
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Also, Chicago-based CommonSpirit is partnering with LifePoint to add behavioral health services at four locations in Arizona, California, Texas and Tennessee in 2024. It plans to add up to eight additional sites by the end of 2028.
Its Virginia Mason Franciscan Health announced last week it is partnering with Amazon-owned primary care provider One Medical to offer specialty care.
The additions are part of CommonSpirit's five-year strategy, which includes reducing redundant technology systems and shifting to five operating divisions, from eight. In fiscal 2023, CommonSpirit reduced its reliance on contract labor and cut 2,000 non-clinical jobs. It identified $2 billion in potential cost savings after Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health merged in 2019 to form CommonSpirit.
The system, which operates 142 hospitals and more than 2,200 care sites across 24 states, on Wednesday reported a $738 million net loss in the first quarter of its fiscal 2024, compared with a $397 million loss a year ago. For 2023, CommonSpirit reported a net loss of $259 million, compared with a year-earlier $1.85 billion loss.
