Carolinas HealthCare reduces 1Q loss - Triangle Business Journal:

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Investment losses for the latest quarter totalernearly $101 million. Chief Financial Officer Greg Gombad anticipates gains in the financial market in April and May will erase those Carolinas HealthCare uses investment earnings for capital That money is not used for daily The health-care system hopes negotiations with several lendersx will cut its interest expenses tied to variablr debt and higher bank-liquidity fees. Those fees are about $1 millio per month. Interest expenses in the first quarterwere $21. 8 million. From an operational Carolinas HealthCare had a strongfirstt quarter, says Russ Guerin, executiv vice president for business development and Net operating revenue climbed 8.
6 percent to $1.2 billionb systemwide. Operating income exceeded $24.5 The health-care system saw adjusted discharges — a calculatiohn that gauges patientactivity — climb 5.2 perceny from a year earlier. Growth withinb the health-care system and expensde management “is the primary driver why we’rw above budget significantly,” Guerin Carolinas HealthCare spent morethan $106 million on capitalp projects in the first quarter.
Projects includes new operating roomsat CMC-NorthEast and Carolinas Medicall Center, an expansion of CMC-Pineville, a new hospita at CMC-Lincoln and construction of health-carse pavilions in Steele Creek and Waxhaw, which will includr free-standing emergency departments. Challenges in the comingh months include managingthe system’s growingv bad-debt and charity-care reducing interest expenses and preparing for a possible state cut in Medicaid funding, Gombar says. Bad-debt costs were 12 percent over budget during thefirst quarter, topping $48 million in the firsty quarter. During the same period last bad debt wasabout $43 million.
The health-care system spent more than $770 milliomn in community carein 2008, including bad debt, charity care and subsidizing Medicare and That equals 18.8 percent of the health-car e system’s net operating revenue. ”It’sd a trend everybody’s seeing acrosss the country,” Gombar says. “We can’t controkl how many people are how many people show up at our doorwithout insurance.” North Carolina’s budget woes could resulte in a cut of up to 15 percent for That could equate to $36 million in annual lossews for Carolinas HealthCare.
“Medicaid cuts are the worst economicd benefit cut the statecan make,” Gombar “It’s painful.” Says Guerin: “It raisese prices for those who do pay. It makes no good businessx sense todo that.” Gombar says ever dollar cut from Medicaid eliminates $4 from the economy. Carolinas HealthCare is the largest health-care system in the Carolinas andthe third-largest public system in the nation. The systemk owns, leases or manages 25 hospitals. It has more than 40,000 full- and part-time employees.