Kansas Non-Profit Hospitals Net Assets Up 80% Under Obama and the Affordable Care Act

From a review of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 2 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations headquartered in the State of Kansas with Net Assets (i.e. Financial Strength or Total Assets minus Total Liabilities) at the most recent date of more than $400 mil each.  Wichita-based Via Christi Health was acquired by Ascension Health and thus is no longer included here.  Below here are the Net Assets of these 2 at both the most recent reported date and also at the Fiscal Year End (FYE) closest to the beginning of the Obama Administration:

						FYE	Balance	Net
				Most		Balance	Sheet	Assets
			Most	Recent		Sheet	Net	%
			Recent	Balance		Date	Assets	Change
			Balance	Sheet		Beginning	Beginning	During
	City	State	Sheet	Net		Obama	Obama	Obama
Hospital Organization	HQs	HQs	Date	Assets		Admin	Admin	Admin
				mil $s			mil $s
University Kansas Hospital	Kansas City	KS	Dec 13	705		Jun 09	422	67%
Olathe Medical Center	Olathe	KS	Dec 13	428		Dec 08	208	106%
Total of both				1,133			630	80%

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 2 Kansas Non-Profit Hospital Organizations increased by a very impressive 80% to $1.133 bil for their average 4.75 years so far during the Obama Administration.

Very positively impacting this very robust increase in the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 2 Kansas Hospital Organizations were actions taken by both the Obama Administration and the US Fed to strengthen the US Financial Foundation which was severely damaged from the financial meltdown in late 2008.

In addition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has also played a key role in this very impressive increase in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 2 Kansas Non-Profit Hospital Organizations.

A remarkable thing is that these very robust increases in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these Non-Profit Hospital Organizations occurred when these Non-Profit Hospitals were also playing very instrumental roles in the substantial annual percentage growth reduction of Total US Health Care Costs which occurred in each of the most recent three years under the ACA.

With such impressive Net Asset percentage increases of these 2 Kansas Hospitals, a key beneficiary of this will be Kansas citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This strong Net Asset growth gives these Kansas Hospitals the financial flexibility to moderate their pricing for hospital procedures in their negotiations with health insurance companies which ultimately determines what insurance premium prices are set at by health insurance companies on the Health Insurance Exchange.

Kansas Struggling Hospitals

From EMMA, I found 23 Kansas Non-Profit Hospital Organizations with Total Operating Revenues of more than $10 mil in their most recent fiscal year.  Nine of them generated Operating Income as a Percentage of Total Operating Revenues of less than 2.0% in the most recent fiscal year, as you can see in the below chart: 

					Most
					Recent
				Operating	Annual
		Operating	Total	Income	Fiscal
	City	Income	Operating	(Loss)	Year
	HQs	(Loss)	Revenues	Margin	End
		mils $s	mils $s	%
Kansas Non-Profit Hospitals
Meade Hospital District	Meade	(1.8)	12	-15.0%	Dec12
Rooks County Health Center	Plainville	(0.4)	11	-3.6%	Dec12
Wilson County Hospital	Neodesha	(0.4)	11	-3.6%	Dec12
Hiawatha Hospital Assoc	Hiawatha	(0.6)	22	-2.7%	Dec12
Labette County Med Center	Parsons	(0.1)	56	-0.2%	Dec12
Fredonia Regional Hospital	Fredonia	-	12	0.0%	Dec12
Memorial Health System	Abilene	0.3	27	1.1%	Dec13
South Central Kansas Med Ctr	Arkansas City	0.2	17	1.2%	Dec12
Anderson County Hospital	Garnett	0.3	17	1.8%	Dec12

The best and only way to substantially strengthen these struggling Kansas Hospitals is for the State of Kansas to fully expand Medicaid.

A key side benefit to Kansas citizens of Kansas Medicaid expansion is that the resultant profit enhancements and thus Net Asset enhancements to all of Kansas's Hospitals would give them the financial flexibility to moderate their pricing for hospital procedures in their negotiations with health insurance companies which ultimately determines what insurance premium prices are set at by health insurance companies on the Health Insurance Exchange.