Wisconsin Non-Profit Hospitals Net Assets Up 85% Under Obama and the Affordable Care Act

From a review of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 12 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations headquartered in the State of Wisconsin with Net Assets (i.e. Financial Strength or Total Assets minus Total Liabilities) at the most recent date reported of more than $400 mil each.  Below here are the Net Assets of these 12 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
Froedtert Health	Milwaukee	WI	Dec 13	1,459		Jun 09	824	77%
Medical College Wisconsin	Milwaukee	WI	Dec 13	1,339		Jun 09	808	66%
Ministry Health Care	Milwaukee	WI	Dec 13	1,164		Sep 09	730	59%
Children's Hospital and Health System	Milwaukee	WI	Dec 13	1,118		Dec 08	460	143%
Aurora Health Care	Milwaukee	WI	Dec 13	1,399		Dec 08	546	156%
Wheaton Franciscan Health	Glendale	WI	Dec 13	974		Jun 09	704	38%
Univ Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics	Madison	WI	Mar 14	947		Jun 09	514	84%
Marshfield Clinic	Marshfield	WI	Dec 13	848		Sep 09	554	53%
Gundersen Lutheran Health	La Crosse	WI	Dec 13	791		Dec 08	429	84%
ProHealth Care	Waukesha	WI	Dec 13	688		Sep 09	423	63%
ThedaCare	Appleton	WI	Mar 14	671		Dec 08	289	132%
Aspirus Obligated Group	Wausau	WI	Dec 13	592		Jun 09	211	181%
Total all 12				11,990			6,492	85%

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 12 Wisconsin Non-Profit Hospital Organizations increased by an exceptional 85% to $11.990 bil during their average 4.58 years of the Obama Administration.  

The lowest Net Asset growth of the 12 was a very respectable 38%.

Very positively impacting this major increase in the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 12 Wisconsin 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 increase in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 12 Wisconsin Non-Profit Hospital Organizations.

A remarkable thing is that these 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 substantial Net Asset percentage increases of these 12 Wisconsin Hospitals, a key beneficiary of this will be Wisconsin citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Federal Health Insurance Exchange.  This exceptional Net Asset growth gives these Wisconsin 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. 

Wisconsin Blow-out Individual Hospital Operating Profits

The State of Wisconsin is being very transparent with its citizens by having available for review annually at its State Health Dept website very detailed financial information on each of its 129 acute care Hospitals.

How have these 129 Hospitals done on the Operating Earnings front?

Fantastically, with Total Operating Income as a Percentage of Total Operating Revenues of 8.2% in the most recent year reported, which is the highest of any US State.

The chart below breaks down individual Wisconsin Hospitals by Operating Profit Margins.

At the top, there were an incredibly high 39 Wisconsin Hospitals generating Operating Income Margins of more than 10.0%.  These 39 posted a Total Operating Margin of 15.5%, which was more than 50% higher than the After-tax Operating Income of the 30 prestigious Dow Industrial companies combined.  The CEOs and CFOs of these 30 Dow Industrial companies must be shaking their heads at how the 129 Wisconsin Hospitals combined, predominantly Non-Profit ones, can generate such incredibly high Operating Income Profit Margins.  It gives a clue as to why the country's health care costs are so high as compared with all other major countries.  So many Non-Profit Hospitals generate these incredibly high profits year after year, and retain them, increasing their huge treasure chest of investments in debt and equity securities, which have advanced dramatically during the Obama Administration.

There were another 35 individual Wisconsin Hospitals generating a superb Operating Margin of 5.0% to 10.0%.

There were 33 individual Wisconsin Hospitals posting a more modest Operating Margin of 0.0% to 5.0%.

And there were 22 individual Wisconsin Hospitals registering Operating Losses in the most recent year.....including 4 in Milwaukee.

When you ponder the fact that 39 of these Wisconsin Hospitals are generating double-digit Operating Income Margins and that 74 of them, or 57% of them, are generating Operating Income Margins of 5.0% and above, what this clearly says is these Wisconsin Hospitals are ripping off Wisconsin patients by generating obscene profits, instead of responsibly lowering their Patient Charges.

Below here are these 129 Wisconsin Hospitals:

			Total		Operating
			Operating	Total	Income
			Income	Operating	(Loss)
Hospital Name	City		(Loss)	Revenues	Margin
			000s	000s	%
Pure Golden Badger Hospitals
Midwest Orthopedic Specialty Hospital	Franklin		33,323	71,276	46.8%
Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin	Glendale		22,147	56,796	39.0%
Oakleaf Surgical Hospital	Eau Claire		12,201	39,242	31.1%
Aurora Medical Center in Kenosha	Kenosha		46,939	151,660	31.0%
Ministry Sacred Heart Hospital	Tomahawk		4,284	17,982	23.8%
Aurora Sheboygan Meml Medical Ctr	Sheboygan		31,493	136,087	23.1%
Aurora BayCare Med Center Green Bay	Green Bay		64,210	278,839	23.0%
St. Mary's Hospital of Superior	Superior		9,958	43,795	22.7%
River Falls Area Hospital	River Falls		9,650	45,511	21.2%
Aurora West Allis Medical Center	West Allis		50,583	242,849	20.8%
Gundersen Health System	La Crosse		79,139	390,674	20.3%
New London Family Medical Center	New London		5,984	30,283	19.8%
Waupun Memorial Hospital	Waupun		7,573	40,249	18.8%
Aurora Medical Center in Aurora	Oshkosh		16,064	98,742	16.3%
Aurora Medical Ctr Manitowoc County	Two Rivers		9,514	59,368	16.0%
Riverside Medical Center	Waupaca		5,621	35,123	16.0%
Memorial Medical Center	Ashland		8,584	57,667	14.9%
Aurora Lakeland Medical Center	Elkhorn		11,248	77,712	14.5%
Wheaton Franciscan-Elmbrook Campus	Brookfield		18,772	136,271	13.8%
Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington	Burlington		10,023	73,790	13.6%
Wheaton Franciscan-Franklin	Franklin		7,830	57,702	13.6%
St. Elizabeth Hospital	Appleton		22,947	173,404	13.2%
Mayo Clinic Health-Red Cedar	Menomonee		11,401	91,033	12.5%
Theda Clark Medical Center	Neenah		21,970	177,599	12.4%
Baldwin Area Medical Center	Baldwin		3,923	31,870	12.3%
Rusk County Meml Hosp&Nursing Home	Ladysmith		2,311	19,122	12.1%
Spooner Health System	Spooner		2,058	17,529	11.7%
Waukesha Memorial Hospital	Waukesha		50,262	428,615	11.7%
Ministry Health's Howard Young Med Ctr	Woodruff		7,092	60,478	11.7%
Cumberland Memorial Hospital	Cumberland		2,212	18,932	11.7%
Mayo Clinic Health in Eau Claire	Eau Claire		30,484	262,077	11.6%
Sacred Heart Hospital	Eau Claire		24,256	211,589	11.5%
Langlade Hospital-An Aspirus Partner	Antigo		8,521	74,486	11.4%
Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital	Marshfield		39,869	352,778	11.3%
Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital	Prairie du Chien		3,732	33,898	11.0%
Mayo Clinic Health-Franciscan Health	La Crosse		23,351	212,991	11.0%
Aurora Medical Center in Hartford	Hartford		5,704	53,184	10.7%
Aurora St Luke's Medical Center	Milwaukee		108,772	1,026,071	10.6%
Grant Regional Health Center	Lancaster		2,070	20,426	10.1%
Total all 39 Pure Golden Hospitals			836,075	5,407,700	15.5%
Robust Profit Badger Hospitals
Tomah Memorial Hospital	Tomah		3,585	36,099	9.9%
Aurora Medical Center in Grafton	Grafton		13,977	143,280	9.8%
Memorial Health Center-Aspirus Partner	Medford		4,860	50,674	9.6%
Flambeau Hospital	Park Falls		1,880	19,918	9.4%
Community Memorial	Menomonee Falls		16,325	173,881	9.4%
Aspirus Wausau Hospital	Wausau		32,683	351,596	9.3%
United Hospital System	Kenosha		24,713	284,058	8.7%
St. Joseph's Hospital	Chippewa Falls		5,984	68,825	8.7%
UW Hospitals & Clinics	Madison		101,469	1,200,929	8.4%
Ministry Saint Michael's Hospital	Stevens Point		14,234	177,417	8.0%
Columbus Community Hospital	Columbus		2,336	29,334	8.0%
Vernon Memorial Healthcare	Viroqua		5,032	63,669	7.9%
Appleton Medical Center	Appleton		17,508	223,622	7.8%
Black River Memorial Hospital	Black River Falls		3,045	39,694	7.7%
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin	Milwaukee		40,556	536,754	7.6%
Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital	Milwaukee		72,075	959,768	7.5%
Mayo Clinic Health-Oakridge in Osseo	Osseo		1,424	19,340	7.4%
Hayward Area Memorial Hospital	Hayward		2,257	32,937	6.9%
Hudson Hospital & Clinics	Hudson		3,515	51,791	6.8%
Osceola Medical Center	Osceola		2,044	30,382	6.7%
St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center	Madison		26,926	405,600	6.6%
Lakeview Medical Center	Rice Lake		4,289	64,719	6.6%
Upland Hills Health	Dodgeville		2,497	39,182	6.4%
Gundersen Tri-County Hospital	Whitehall		746	11,829	6.3%
Aurora Medical Center in Summit	Summit		6,062	97,193	6.2%
Ministry Door County Medical Center	Sturgeon Bay		4,252	69,392	6.1%
Divine Savior Healthcare	Portage		4,148	71,186	5.8%
Riverview Hospital Association	Wisconsin Rapids		4,997	86,397	5.8%
The Richland Hospital	Richland Center		1,974	35,222	5.6%
St. Mary's Hospital Medical Center	Green Bay		6,360	114,967	5.5%
Burnett Medical Center	Grantsburg		920	17,001	5.4%
Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints	Racine		19,542	366,452	5.3%
Mayo Clinic Health-Northland in Barron	Barron		2,904	55,621	5.2%
St. Clare Hospital and Health Services	Baraboo		3,052	59,566	5.1%
Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital	Prairie du Sac		3,074	61,588	5.0%
Total all 35 Robust Profit Badger Hospitals			461,245	6,049,883	7.6%
Modest Profit Badger Hospitals
Westfields Hospital	New Richmond		1,604	32,414	4.9%
Calumet Medical Center	Chilton		1,055	21,661	4.9%
Gundersen St. Joseph's Hospital&Clinics	Hillsboro		813	16,906	4.8%
St. Vincent Hospital	Green Bay		11,434	254,116	4.5%
Meriter Hospital	Madison		18,802	432,096	4.4%
Mayo Clinic Health-Chippewa in Bloomer	Bloomer		1,542	35,980	4.3%
Stoughton Hospital Association	Stoughton		1,519	37,868	4.0%
Wild Rose Community Meml Hospital	Wild Rose		533	13,632	3.9%
Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center	Janesville		15,195	392,395	3.9%
Mercy Walworth Hospital&Medical Center	Lake Geneva		2,293	59,804	3.8%
Columbia St Mary's-Ozaukee Campus	Mequon		6,185	163,450	3.8%
Ministry Saint Clare's Hospital	Weston		3,698	100,489	3.7%
St. Croix Regional Medical Center	St. Croix Falls		2,250	62,366	3.6%
Monroe Clinic	Monroe		5,839	163,373	3.6%
Ministry Our Lady of Victory Hospital	Stanley		741	21,104	3.5%
Beaver Dam Community Hospitals	Beaver Dam		2,792	80,146	3.5%
Agnesian HealthCare/St. Agnes Hospital	Fond du Lac		9,989	293,981	3.4%
Bellin Hospital	Green Bay		11,843	350,272	3.4%
Reedsburg Area Medical Center	Reedsburg		1,511	44,962	3.4%
Moundview Memorial Hospital&Clinics	Friendship		489	14,982	3.3%
St. Joseph's Community Hospital	West Bend		2,749	84,276	3.3%
Beloit Health System	Beloit		5,269	190,977	2.8%
Mercy Medical Center	Oshkosh		3,005	110,332	2.7%
Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital	Oconomowoc		2,448	92,638	2.6%
Mile Bluff Medical Center	Mauston		1,224	53,307	2.3%
Midwest Spine Orthopedic&Heart Hosp	Wauwatosa		1,040	46,790	2.2%
Shawano Medical Center	Shawano		680	35,973	1.9%
Memorial Hospital of Lafayette Co.	Darlington		232	12,713	1.8%
Bay Area Medical Center	Marinette		1,589	113,061	1.4%
UW Health Partners Reg Med Ctr	Watertown		1,196	96,095	1.2%
Ministry Good Samaritan Health Cntr	Merrill		208	24,747	0.8%
Amery Regional Medical Center	Amery		111	50,874	0.2%
Holy Family Memorial	Manitowoc		10	127,350	0.0%
Total all 33 Modest Profit Badger Hospitals			119,888	3,631,130	3.3%
In-The-Red Badger Hospitals
Wheaton Franciscan-St. Joseph	Milwaukee		(21)	275,100	0.0%
Community Memorial Hospital	Oconto Falls		(102)	34,860	-0.3%
Wheaton Franciscan-St. Francis	Milwaukee		(483)	155,569	-0.3%
Ripon Medical Center	Ripon		(84)	22,543	-0.4%
Berlin Memorial Hospital	Berlin		(317)	66,892	-0.5%
Ministry Eagle River Memorial Hospital	Eagle River		(81)	14,528	-0.6%
Columbia St. Mary's Hospital	Milwaukee		(4,765)	442,902	-1.1%
Ministry Saint Mary's Hospital	Rhinelander		(1,281)	115,894	-1.1%
Fort HealthCare	Fort Atkinson		(1,994)	122,645	-1.6%
Boscobel Area Health Care	Boscobel		(262)	13,761	-1.9%
Oconto Hospital & Medical Center	Oconto		(157)	5,422	-2.9%
Mayo Clinic-Franciscan Health Sparta	Sparta		(381)	12,944	-2.9%
Indianhead Medical Center/Shell Lake	Shell Lake		(392)	6,314	-6.2%
St. Nicholas Hospital	Sheboygan		(3,860)	60,418	-6.4%
Southwest Health Center	Platteville		(1,821)	27,284	-6.7%
Chippewa Valley Hospital	Durand		(986)	14,480	-6.8%
Memorial Medical Center	Neillsville		(1,580)	20,230	-7.8%
Aurora Sinai Medical Center	Milwaukee		(15,622)	191,340	-8.2%
Edgerton Hospital & Health	Edgerton		(1,584)	17,827	-8.9%
Children's Hospital Wisconsin-Fox Valley	Neenah		(1,847)	19,658	-9.4%
St. Mary's Janesville Hospital	Janesville		(5,122)	50,883	-10.1%
Columbia Center	Mequon		(856)	6,506	-13.2%
Total all 22 Badger In-The-Red Hospitals			(43,598)	1,698,000	-2.6%
Total all 129 Wisconsin Badger Hospitals			1,373,610	16,786,713	8.2%

It is pretty clear to me that not just US Hospital Patients but also Health Insurance Companies should both be outraged by these extremely high Operating Profits of Hospitals like the ones in Wisconsin.  And the Bottom Line Profits of Hospital Organizations all across the country are substantially higher than the Operating Profits.

But this is very good for future Health Insurance Pricing on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This egregious Hospital Pricing is driving obnoxiously high Hospital Bottom Line Profits, year after year, especially during all of the Obama Administration where the stock market has continually been on fire.  But now loaded with a better understanding of this information, Health Insurance Companies can now exert substantially downward Hospital Pricing Pressure on the Hospital Industry, and especially so on Wisconsin Hospitals.

And given that there are 22 Wisconsin Hospitals posting Operating Losses and many more posting modest Operating Profits, it only makes sense that Wisconsin fully expand Medicaid.  The resultant higher Hospital Profits from Medicaid expansion should give Health Insurance Companies even more leverage to exert downward Hospital Pricing Pressure on Wisconsin Hospitals, which should drive down even more Health Insurance Premiums on the Health Insurance Exchange.