Wednesday, March 19, 2014

North Dakota Non-Profit Hospitals Net Assets Up 56% 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 North Dakota with Net Assets (i.e. Financial Strength or Total Assets minus Total Liabilities) at the most recent date of more than $150 mil each.  In Addition, Sioux Falls, SD headquartered Sanford Health has 2 of its 4 Regional Medical Centers located in North Dakota and thus has been included here too.  Below here are the Net Assets of these 3 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









Sanford Health Fargo & Bismark ND Mar 14     1,975
Jun 09       1,242 59%
Altru Health System Grand Forks ND  Dec 13         201
Dec 09          135 49%
St. Alexius Medical Center Bismark ND  Dec 13         170
Jun 09          127 34%









Total of all 3


    2,346

      1,504 56%

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 3 North Dakota Non-Profit Hospital Organizations increased by a very robust 56% to $2.346 bil during their average 4.42 years so far during the Obama Administration.

Very positively impacting this very solid increase in the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 3 North Dakota 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 3 North Dakota 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 very solid Net Asset percentage increases of these 3 North Dakota Hospitals, a key beneficiary of this will be North Dakota citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This strong Net Asset growth gives these North Dakota 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.