Georgia Hospital Massive Income Inequality Points To Need For Medicaid Expansion

In two earlier recent posts Georgia Non-Profit Hospital Earnings On Fire, from a review of audited financial statements contained in the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I showed that the 11 large Georgia Non-Profit Hospital Organizations with Net Assets above $400 mil each generated Total Audited Bottom Line Earnings of $1.034 bil in the most recent fiscal year, which was an exceptionally robust 10.2% of their Total Operating Revenues of $10.176 bil.  On the other hand, I found 12 smaller Georgia Non-Profit Hospital Organizations generating Total Operating Revenues of more than $10 mil in the most recent fiscal year, but also with Net Assets of less than $400 mil, posted Total Audited Bottom Line Earnings of $93.2 mil in the most recent fiscal year, which was a substantially lower 2.5% of Total Operating Revenues.

In this post, I reviewed  certain key data related to the 107 individual Georgia hospitals contained in the American Hospital Directory's (AHD) website. 

What I found was an absolutely incredible difference in Hospital Net Income relative to how large a Hospital is in terms of its number of hospital beds.  Here is a summary for 2012:

		2012
		Average
		Hospital
	# of	Net
# of	Hospital	Income
Hospitals	Beds	000s
17	400 Or More	$31,675
25	Between 200 and 400	$15,179
31	Between 100 and 200	$8,161
34	100 Or Less	$806
13	50 Or Less	$146

  
When the 17 Georgia Hospitals with more than 400 hospital beds generate an Average Net Income of $31,675,000 in 2012, while the 34 Georgia Hospitals with 100 or fewer hospital beds post an Average Net Income of only $806,000 in 2012.....a meager 2.5% of the $31,675,000.....there is a very serious Hospital Income Inequality Problem in Georgia.

And also when the 25 Georgia Hospitals with between 200 and 400 hospital beds generate an Average Net Income of $15,179,000 in 2012, while the 34 Georgia Hospitals with hospital beds of 100 or less post an Average Net Income of only $806,000 in 2012.....a meager 5.3% of the $15,179,000.....yes, there is a very serious Hospital Income Inequality Problem in Georgia.

The main driver of these very weak profit numbers for these 34 small Georgia Hospitals were the many uninsured and underinsured residents, particularly in the smaller Georgia communities, with the resultant abnormally high levels of both Total Bad Debt Earnings Charges and Uncompensated Charity Care Earnings Charges relative to Net Patient Revenues.

The best way to provide the needed financial boost to these small Georgia Hospitals is to simply Expand Medicaid in Georgia.  This will substantially reduce two Hospital Operating Statement Earnings Charges.....Provisions for Bad Debts and Uncompensated Charity Care Costs.

The larger Georgia Hospitals are doing just fine.....but clearly not the smaller ones.....they are not even close to doing fine financially.

Further, a safety net hospital like Gracy Memorial in Atlanta would be a huge beneficiary of Medicaid Expansion in Georgia.  This would also benefit taxpayers in Fulton and DeKalb Counties, who are presently in essence funding the huge Operating Losses of Gracy Memorial Hospital.
 
From the excellent AHD website, below here are the number of beds and Net Income or Net Losses of each of these 107 Georgia individual Hospitals in 2012, sorted by the number of beds:

		2012
		Number	2012
		Of	Profit
Georgia Hospital	Georgia City	Beds	(Loss)
			$000s
Grady Memorial Hospital	Atlanta	931	5,015
Northeast Georgia Medical Center	Gainesville	774	46,014
Medical Center of Central Georgia	Macon	600	69,157
Emory University Hospital	Atlanta	579	63,015
WellStar Kennestone Hospital	Marietta	572	95,822
Gwinnett Medical Center	Lawrenceville	526	28,080
The Medical Center	Columbus	525	15,171
Memorial University Medical Center	Savannah	520	7,497
University Hospital	Augusta	510	41,890
Piedmont Atlanta Hospital	Atlanta	507	126,494
Georgia Regents Medical Center	Augusta	498	5,648
DeKalb Medical at North Decatur	Decatur	489	12,430
Northside Hospital	Atlanta	479	42,065
Emory University Hospital Midtown	Atlanta	431	(48,193)
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital	Albany	431	29,547
West Georgia Health System Medical Center	LaGrange	426	(1,305)
Atlanta Medical Center	Atlanta	423	120
South Georgia Medical Center	Valdosta	380	22,067
WellStar Cobb Hospital	Austell	370	33,354
Mayo Clinic Health Waycross	Waycross	364	(539)
Athens Regional Medical Center	Athens	343	15,252
Archbold Memorial Hospital	Thomasville	328	30,664
Saint Francis Hospital	Columbus	325	9,773
Southeast Georgia Health-Brunswick	Brunswick	316	28,817
Doctors Hospital of Augusta	Augusta	285	66,350
Hamilton Medical Center	Dalton	282	24,397
Southern Regional Medical Center	Riverdale	278	1,433
Piedmont Henry Hospital	Stockbridge	277	(7,976)
Candler Hospital	Savannah	267	2,756
Floyd Medical Center	Rome	258	12,685
Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta	Atlanta	257	10,011
Saint Joseph's Hospital	Savannah	253	8,510
Eastside Medical Center	Snellville	249	25,745
Hutcheson Medical Center	Fort Oglethorpe	243	(7,097)
Northridge Medical Center	Commerce	239	(633)
Coliseum Medical Center	Macon	237	19,924
Houston Medical Center	Warner Robins	237	24,704
Redmond Regional Medical Center	Rome	230	39,775
Crisp Regional Hospital	Cordele	216	1,259
WellStar Paulding Hospital	Dallas	216	2,496
Evans Memorial Hospital	Claxton	209	254
North Fulton Regional Hospital	Roswell	202	15,489
Northside Hospital-Forsyth	Cumming	199	2,045
Atlanta Medical Center-South Campus	Atlanta	198	(9,491)
Union General Hospital	Blairsville	195	1,730
Tift Regional Medical Center	Tifton	191	34,827
Memorial Hospital and Manor	Bainbridge	187	(1,408)
Tanner Medical Center Carrollton	Carrollton	186	26,504
Doctors Hospital of Columbus	Columbus	169	(3,708)
Fairview Park Hospital	Dublin	162	46,140
Saint Mary's Hospital	Atlanta	160	5,612
Spalding Regional Medical Center	Griffin	160	14,735
Piedmont Fayette Hospital	Fayetteville	157	19,061
East Georgia Regional Medical Center	Statesboro	150	56,998
Berrien County Hospital	Nashville	147	(227)
Appling Hospital	Baxley	144	(1,186)
Cook Medical Center	Adel	140	(402)
Donalsonville Hospital	Donalsonville	140	2,158
North Georgia Medical Center	Ellijay	140	(586)
Trinity Hospital of Augusta	Augusta	140	(205)
Rockdale Medical Center	Conyers	138	5,413
Habersham Medical Center	Demorest	137	(3,831)
Piedmont Newnan Hospital	Newnan	136	805
Phoebe North	Albany	124	971
Oconee Regional Medical Center	Milledgeville	120	1,389
Upson Regional Medical Center	Thomaston	120	11,183
Emory Johns Creek Hospital	Johns Creek	118	3,416
Washington County Regional Med Center	Sandersville	116	768
Wayne Memorial Hospital	Jesup	115	(267)
Cartersville Medical Center	Cartersville	112	32,917
Coliseum Northside Hospital	Macon	103	(1,328)
WellStar Douglas Hospital	Douglasville	102	9,823
Newton Medical Center	Covington	101	(860)
DeKalb Medical at Hillandale	Lithonia	100	(8,909)
Hughston Hospital	Columbus	100	4,211
Stephens County Hospital	Toccoa	96	841
Emanuel Medical Center	Swainsboro	94	437
Tanner Medical Center Villa Rica	Villa Rica	92	3,385
Coffee Regional Medical Center	Douglas	88	3,714
Northside Hospital-Cherokee	Canton	84	1,378
Colquitt Regional Medical Center	Moultrie	79	3,421
Clearview Regional Medical Center	Monroe	77	3,480
Phoebe Dorminy Medical Center	Fitzgerald	75	(2,861)
Emory-Adventist Hospital at Smyrna	Smyrna	73	(1,786)
Wesley Woods  Hospital	Atlanta	71	(5,927)
Gordon Hospital	Calhoun	69	7,217
Meadows Regional Medical Center	Vidalia	65	4,057
Irwin County Hospital	Ocilla	64	(807)
Turning Point Hospital	Moultrie	59	7,519
Barrow Regional Medical Center	Windner	56	982
Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center	Lavonia	56	3,896
Taylor Regional Hospital	Hawkinsville	55	(3,149)
Phoebe Sumter Medical Center	Americus	54	4,901
Elbert Memorial Hospital	Elberton	52	(482)
Fannin Regional Hospital	Blue Ridge	50	(855)
Chestatee Regional Hospital	Dahlonega	49	(2,503)
Flint River Community Hospital	Montezuma	49	(246)
Grady General Hospital	Cairo	46	1,937
Dodge County Hospital	Eastman	45	1,733
Piedmont Mountainside Hospital	Jasper	42	(500)
Smith Northview Hospital	Valdosta	41	2,721
Burke Medical Center	Waynesboro	40	6
Southeast Georgia Health-Camden	Saint Marys	40	4,348
Perry Hospital	Perry	39	(1,639)
Jefferson Hospital	Louisville	37	(516)
Murray Medical Center	Chatsworth	29	(1,285)
University Hospital McDuffie	Thomson	25	(1,308)
Totals all 107 Georgia Hospitals		22,680	1,198,344