Becker's Hospital Review

16 CFO / FINANCE Partners posts $463M loss in Q1 By Ayla Ellison B oston-based Partners Health- Care saw its operating income rise in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 but ended the period with a net loss, according to financial documents released Feb. 1. Partners' operating revenues re- mained nearly flat year over year. The system's 11 percent growth in provider revenue was offset by a decline in insurance revenue. Partners said the 66 percent year- over-year decrease in premium revenue was due to membership loss caused by restructuring the MassHealth program. After factoring in a 0.9 percent decrease in operating expens- es, Partners ended the first quar- ter of fiscal 2019 with operating income of $138.5 million. That's up 20.7 percent from a year earlier, when the health system posted operating income of $114.8 million. Partners reported a 4.1 percent operating margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2019, up from a 3.4 percent operating margin in the same period the year prior. After factoring in a $601 mil- lion nonoperating loss, which included a $563.7 million loss on investments, Partners ended the first quarter of fiscal 2019 with a net loss of $462.8 million. Partners reported net income of $321.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. New accounting rules affected Partners' nonoperating income in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The new rules require all investments to be measured at market value. Under prior rules, a portion of the health system's investments were measured at cost, according to the financial documents. n Ascension's operating revenue climbs $1.3B in first half of FY 2019 By Morgan Haefner S t. Louis-based Ascension saw operating revenues and operating income in- crease in the first six months of 2019 but ended the period with a net loss. Ascension reported operating revenues of $12.6 billion for the six months ended Dec. 31, up $1.3 billion from $11.3 billion reported in the first six months of fiscal 2018, according to unaudited financial documents. The increase was primarily at- tributed to revenue recorded by Chicago-based Presence Health facilities, which Ascension acquired in March 2018. Ascension also saw operating expenses increase in the first half of fiscal 2019 to $12.3 billion, up 10.3 percent from $11.2 billion reported in the same pe- riod a year prior. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to the Presence acquisition. The health system saw its operating income improve in the first half of 2019 to $221.8 million, up 162 percent from $84.7 million reported in the first half of 2018. Net impairment, restructuring and nonrecurring losses were $42.4 million for the most recent six-month period, down from losses of $78.3 million during the six months ended Dec. 31, 2017. However, largely due to lower return on investment, Ascension posted an $836.3 million nonoperating loss in the first half of fiscal 2019, compared to a nonoper- ating gain of $923.2 million in the same period a year prior. After including the nonoperating loss, Ascension reported a net loss of $567.9 million in the first half of 2019, compared to a net gain of $882.2 million in the first half of fiscal 2018. n Nurses sue CHI over on-call pay: 4 things to know By Ayla Ellison S even current and former nurses at CHI Health St. Elizabeth in Lincoln, Neb., have filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital's parent company, Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives, according to e World-Herald. Four things to know: 1. e nurses allege CHI underpays them for on-call work and overtime work they perform while on call in violation of state and federal wage laws. 2. According to the lawsuit, CHI is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Nebraska Wage Payment and Collection Act, and the Nebraska Wage Act by paying the nurses between $2 and $4 an hour for on-call work, including responding to work-related calls, emails and texts. at amount falls below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and Nebraska's minimum wage of $9 per hour, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. 3. "CHI Health is looking into all matters raised in that complaint and will handle all appropri- ately," a CHI spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Lincoln Journal Star. "Because this involves litigation, CHI Health cannot comment on any facts of the matter. CHI Health takes serious the allegations raised in this complaint, and is committed to full compliance with the law and fair treatment for all of its employees," the spokesperson said. 4. e nurses' lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, asks the court to award back wages, retirement contributions and interest due on both. n

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