Becker's Hospital Review

19 CFO / FINANCE LifePoint posts $52M profit as it seeks sale to private equity firm By Ayla Ellison B rentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Health saw revenues decline in the second quarter of 2018, but the company ended the period with a profit. LifePoint recorded revenues of $1.57 bil- lion in the second quarter of 2018, down slightly from $1.59 billion in the same pe- riod a year earlier. The decline was due in part to LifePoint operating one less hospital in the second quarter of 2018 than in the same period of 2017. On a same-hospital basis, revenues climbed 0.6 percent year over year. LifePoint's financials were also affected by lower patient volumes. Admissions, inpatient surgeries and emergency room visits declined year over year in the second quarter of 2018 on a same-hospital basis. However, outpa- tient surgeries were up 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2018. After factoring in operating expenses and one-time charges, LifePoint ended the second quarter of 2018 with net income attributable to the company of $52.4 million, up from $42.5 million in the second quarter of 2017. LifePoint released its second-quarter earnings just a few days after disclosing private equity firm Apollo Global Man- agement will purchase the company for $5.6 billion including debt. Under the transaction, LifePoint will combine with the health system operator Apollo cur- rently owns, Brentwood-based RCCH HealthCare Partners. "We are excited about our recently announced merger with RCCH Health- care Partners and believe that together we will be able to meaningfully extend our mission and ensure that non-urban communities across the country have access to quality care, while generating new opportunities for growth and part- nerships that will help us navigate the changing healthcare industry dynam- ics," William F. Carpenter III, chairman and CEO of LifePoint, said in an earn- ings release. n UNC Health offers 70% off outstanding bills ahead of hospital sale By Morgan Haefner C hapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health Care offered a 70 percent discount on outstanding bills at High Point (N.C.) Regional Health before it transfered ownership of the hospital to Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. To receive the one-time write-off, High Point Regional Health patients who owed an outstanding balance to the hospital had to pay 30 percent of the bill by Aug. 15. The discount applied to the portion the patient is liable for after insurance and other payments. Only bills received before June 1 were eligible for the discount. UNC Health Care and Wake Forest Baptist are expected to complete their transfer of High Point Regional Health in early fall. The two systems signed a binding agreement for the transaction March 8. "UNC Health Care is seeking to settle as many accounts as possible prior to the transaction close," the system told the Winston-Salem Journal. "This is a com- mon practice within the industry. It is our hope that the discount offered will be a win-win situation for our patients and the UNC Health Care system." n Young people have the most medical debt, study finds By Kelly Gooch T he average amount of medical debt is significantly higher for younger people, likely reflecting differences in insurance coverage and financial resources, according to a study released by Health Affairs. e study — authored by economists at the Federal Reserve Board, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and American Enterprise Institute — analyzed 2016 credit report data for more than 4 million Americans. It also compared mean medical collections in 2016 to 2011-2015 medical spending. Researchers found a nearly 40 percent decrease in the average size of patients' medical debt from age 27 to age 64. ey said this is likely due to factors such as lack of insurance coverage and financial resources among younger people. Although younger people have the most medical debt, medical spending increases with age, according to the study. Researchers said healthcare spending was more than four times higher for people at age 64 than at age 27. People age 64 reported median annual spending of $3,056, compared to $727 for people age 27. e study also found insurance coverage rates are less of a contributing factor to the pro- portion of people with medical debt by age. Researchers said insurance coverage rates are less of a contributing factor potentially be- cause the size of most medical debt was relatively modest, as more than half of medical collections was less than $600 annually. erefore, they said, people with typical insurance plans could still incur medical debt. "Policies that promote insurance coverage for younger adults may have the greatest effect on reducing medical collections," researchers concluded. "However, because most medical debts are relatively modest in size, insurance plans with high deductibles might have only a limited impact. ese findings are relevant to a host of policy considerations — particu- larly with regard to insurance design and regulation." n

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