North Carolina Non-Profit Hospitals Net Assets Up 60% Under Obama and the Affordable Care Act

From a review of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 15 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations headquartered in the State of North Carolina with Net Assets (i.e. Financial Strength or Total Assets minus Total Liabilities) at the most recent date of more than $400 mil each.  Below here are the Net Assets of these 15 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
Carolinas Health Care System	Charlotte	NC	Sep 13	3,946		Dec 08	2,340	69%
Duke University Health System	Durham	NC	Mar 14	2,909		Jun 09	1,392	109%
Novant Health	Winston-Salem	NC	Dec 13	2,558		Dec 08	1,557	64%
Cone Health	Greensboro	NC	Dec 13	1,430		Sep 09	894	60%
Mission Health System	Asheville	NC	Dec 13	1,339		Sep 09	882	52%
University North Carolina Hospitals	Chapel Hill	NC	Dec 13	1,285		Jun 09	911	41%
North Carolina Baptist Hospital	Winston-Salem	NC	Dec 13	1,047		Jun 09	715	46%
Vidant Health	Greenville	NC	Dec 13	995		Sep 09	587	70%
WakeMed Health	Raleigh	NC	Dec 13	894		Sep 09	719	24%
CaroMont Health	Gastonia	NC	Dec 13	686		Jun 09	386	78%
Wake Forest Univ Health Sciences	Winston-Salem	NC	Dec 13	664		Jun 09	510	30%
FirstHealth of the Carolinas	Pinehurst	NC	Dec 13	648		Sep 09	458	41%
New Hanover Regional Medical Center	Wilmington	NC	Dec 13	575		Sep 09	450	28%
Rex Healthcare	Raleigh	NC	Dec 13	510		Jun 09	297	72%
Cape Fear Valley Health System	Fayetteville	NC	Dec 13	424		Sep 09	315	35%
Total all 15				19,910			12,413	60%

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 15 North Carolina Non-Profit Hospital Organizations increased by an impressive 60% to a massive $19.910 bil for their average 4.45 years so far during the Obama Administration.

The largest of these 15.....Carolinas Health Care System..... hasn't reported its December 31, 2013 Net Asset amount yet which should be markedly higher than the above September 30, 2013 amount.

Very positively impacting this impressive increase in the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 15 North Carolina Hospitals 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 robust increase in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 15 North Carolina 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, and especially the North Carolina 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 very impressive Net Asset percentage increases of these 15 North Carolina Hospitals, a key beneficiary of this will be North Carolina citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This strong Net Asset growth gives these North Carolina 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.    

North Carolina Struggling Hospitals

North Carolina has some excellent Non-Profit Hospital Organizations connected with Universities.  And they are also doing very well on the Operating Income front, 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	%
North Carolina University Non-Profit Hospital Organizations
Univ North Carolina Hosps	Chapel Hill	113.9	1,212	9.4%	Jun 13
Duke University Health	Durham	184.1	2,539	7.3%	Jun 13
Vidant Health	Greenville	94.3	1,601	5.9%	Sep 13
Total all 3		392.3	5,352.0	7.3%

However, there are many North Carolina Hospital Organizations which are really suffering financially.

From EMMA, I found 29 North Carolina Non-Profit Hospital Organizations with Total Operating Revenues in excess of $10 mil each in their most recent fiscal year.  Of those 29, a very high 17 of them, or 59% of them, generated Operating Income as a Percentage of Total Operating Revenues of less than 2.0% in their most recent fiscal year.   These 17 Hospital Organizations generated Total Operating Losses of $115 mil in their most recent fiscal year, which was a negative 1.7% of their Total Operating Revenues, 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	%
North Carolina Non-Profit Hospital Organizations
Chatham Memorial Hospital	Elkin	(6.3)	82	-7.7%	Sep 13
Cone Health	Greensboro	(44.1)	1,140	-3.9%	Sep 13
Nash Health Care	Rocky Mount	(7.5)	218	-3.4%	Dec 13
Wake Forest Baptist Hosp	Winston-Salem	(56.6)	1,895	-3.0%	Jun 13
Stanley Health Services	Albemarle	(3.1)	130	-2.4%	Sep 13
High Point Regional Health	High Point	(6.2)	275	-2.3%	Sep 12
Halifax Regional Med Ctr	Roanoke Rapids	(1.3)	90	-1.4%	Sep 13
WakeMed Health	Raleigh	(14.4)	1,023	-1.4%	Sep 13
Columbus Regional Healthcare	Whiteville	(0.6)	80	-0.8%	Sep 13
Scotland Healthcare	Laurinburg	(0.1)	125	-0.1%	Sep 13
Wayne Health	Goldsboro	0.7	216	0.3%	Sep 13
Southeastern Regnl Med Ctr	Lumberton	2.5	288	0.9%	Sep 13
Catawba Valley Medical Center	Hickory	2.1	203	1.0%	Jun 13
Harnett Health	Dunn	1.1	87	1.3%	Sep 12
Wilson Medical Center	Wilson	1.8	137	1.3%	Sep 12
Cape Fear Valley Health	Fayetteville	12.3	657	1.9%	Sep 13
ARMC Health Care	Burlington	4.8	251	1.9%	Dec 12
Total all 17		(114.9)	6,897	-1.7%

Of these 29 North Carolina Hospital Organizations, 10 of them posted Operating Losses in the most recent year.

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

A key side benefit to North Carolina citizens of North Carolina Medicaid expansion is that the resultant profit enhancements and thus Net Asset enhancements to all of North Carolina'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.