Wednesday, February 11, 2015

San Francisco Bay Area Non-Profit Hospital Net Assets (Financial Strength) Have More Than Doubled (Up 111%) Since 2008 Financial Meltdown

Since the February 15, 2015 deadline for signups for the US Federal and the many US State Heath Insurance Exchanges is only 4 days away, I think it would be helpful to analyze just how financially successful California Non-Profit Hospital Organizations have been.

The single clearly most relevant measure of the financial strength of a US Hospital Organization is its level of Net Assets ..... or the Excess of its Total Hospital Organization's Assets Over its Total Hospital Liabilities.

From a thorough review of the excellent Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 11 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations with a heavy presence in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and which had Total Net Assets of more than $400 mil.

These 11 largest Greater San Francisco Bay Area Non-Profit Hospital Organizations had Total Net Assets of $52.8 bil at the most recent date their financial statements disclosed them, which was a 111% increase from such comparable $25.1 bil amount at their fiscal year ends which included the 2008-09 US Financial Meltdown.

It should be pointed out that the majority of the below most recent Net Asset amounts are at September 30, 2014.  When the final December 31, 2014 Net Asset amounts are disclosed, the above 111% increase will turn out to be much higher.

Below here are the Net Asset amounts at these two dates for these 11 largest Greater San Francisco Bay Area Non-Profit Hospital Organizations:







Net Net







Assets Assets






FYE FYE %






Balance Balance Increase






Sheet Sheet Since




Most
Date Date FYE



Most Recent
Including Including Including



Recent Balance
2008-09 2008-09 2008-09



Balance Sheet
US US US
City State Sheet Net
Financial Financial Financial
California Non-Profit Hospital Organization HQs HQs Date Assets
Meltdown Meltdown Meltdown




mil $s
mil $s









Kaiser Permanente Oakland CA Sep 14      25,909
Dec 08    11,431 127%
Sutter Health Sacramento CA Sep 14        8,520
Dec 08      4,298 98%
Dignity Health San Francisco CA Sep 14        7,081
Jun 09      3,622 95%
Stanford Health Care Stanford CA Nov 14        2,742
Aug 09         807 240%
Packard Children's Hospital Stanford Palo Alto CA Nov 14        1,907
Aug 09      1,068 79%
Adventist Health West Roseville CA Sep 14        1,601
Dec 08         969 65%
John Muir Health Walnut Creek CA Sep 14        1,491
Dec 08         756 97%
U Cal, San Fran Medical Center San Francisco CA Jun 13        1,323
Jun 09         761 74%
El Camino Hhealthcare District Mountain View CA Jun 14        1,103
Jun 09         685 61%
Community Hospital Foundation Monterey CA  Jun 14            693
Dec 08         341 103%
Fremont-Rideout Health Group Yuba City CA  Dec 14            459
Jun 09         313 47%









Total all 11


      52,829

     25,051 111%

The single number that will determine by far more than any other one number just how successful the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will turn out to be in the long run is the Hospital Net Asset (Financial Strength) amount and its change over time.  This Hospital Net Asset number and its change over time has already driven and will continue to drive how expensive health insurance premiums will be, including insurance premiums on the both the US Federal and the many US State Health Insurance Exchanges under the ACA.  And this Hospital Net Asset number and its change over time has already driven and will also continue to drive the Total US Health Care Cost Curve.

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 11 largest Greater San Francisco Bay Area Non-Profit Hospital Organizations totaled a huge $52.8 bil, up a massive 111% from such Total Net Asset amounts of $25.1 bil at their fiscal year ends which included the 2008-09 US Financial Meltdown.  This is a very good sign for just how successful the ACA has been so far and also how very successful it will turn out to be in the long run.

With such incredibly impressive Hospital Net Asset percentage increases in California and all throughout the US, a key beneficiary of this will be US citizens who have elected or will be electing to buy health insurance on the US Federal and US States Health Insurance Exchanges.  This superb Net Asset growth has given and will continue to give these US Hospitals the financial flexibility to moderate their pricing for hospital and other health care 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 Exchanges.