New York City Health & Hospitals has ambitious targets for revenue growth and is on track to achieve them, Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO, testified Thursday before the City Council as part of fiscal 2020 executive budget hearings.
Katz told the council's hospitals and finance committees that some of the health system's efforts were "slower to get off the ground than projected" and others were delayed to "produce a bigger return in future years." H+H expects to finish the year with $712 million in revenue-generating initiatives, short of its target by about 0.5% of its budget.
"We continue to expect we will achieve our future revenue targets as our revenue-growth initiatives gain momentum in the years ahead," Katz said.
The health system's efforts to bill insurance companies properly and collect revenue owed by them are expected to meet or exceed its $190 million target, he said.
Some efforts to keep more patients in the health system, such as a new transportation contract, have taken more time than expected, Katz said. Accordingly, some of its expected patient revenue growth has been pushed into fiscal 2020.
In terms of expenses, the health system expects to end the year with $395 million in expense-reducing initiatives, down from an initial target of $430 million. Katz attributed the difference to improvements in care, such as the hiring of 340 net new nurses in the past year amid administrative and managerial cuts.
H&H expects to end the year with a cash balance of $781 million, with positive cash balances expected through the length of its five-year transformation plan. The plan takes into account federal Disproportionate Share Hospital payments, effective in federal fiscal year 2020. The cuts have been delayed before, however, and they might be delayed once more.
"If the cuts are delayed, the revenue and cash balances in our plan will be significantly higher," Katz said, "and the personnel reductions we are presenting in the out years would hopefully not be necessary."
"NYC H+H: Revenue initiatives shy of target but expect momentum" originally appeared in Crain's New York Business.