Erlanger posts $1.5 million gain in August; finishes fiscal year at $5 million in the black

Britt Tabor, Chief Financial Officer for the Erlanger Health System, announced Monday that the health system posted $1.531 million in excess revenue over expenses from operations during the month of August.

During Erlanger’s monthly Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Tabor told trustees that hospital admissions in August “were at the highest level they have been in five years,” and that Erlanger also had a record number of births last month.  He also reported that both inpatient surgeries were up and orthopedic surgeries at Erlanger “were up 27% from last August.”

Erlanger trustees also received a clean audit opinion with no audit adjustments from Doug Arnold, auditor with the Pershing Yoakley and Associates CPA firm, who presented the fiscal year 2010-11 audited financial report. During his annual year end presentation to the health system’s Budget and Finance Committee, Arnold reported that Erlanger ended its fiscal year June 30, 2011 with earnings of $5,354,793.

During his report to the Erlanger trustees, Arnold commended hospital officials for having no audit adjustments and for getting financial information to auditors “right and on a timely basis.”  Budget and Finance Committee Chair, Donnie Hutcherson, with Henderson, Hutcherson & McCullough CPA firm, also commended Erlanger’s financial management team, noting that “seeing no adjustments is unusual in this line of work.”

Tabor told the trustees that August hospital admissions were not only at their highest level in five years, but the health system “accomplished this with zero divert hours.”  In terms of births, Tabor noted that a record 518 babies were born at the Erlanger Baroness and Erlanger East campuses in August.  “This represents more than an 80% market share,” Tabor said, noting that “more than eight out of every 10 babies in this area were born at Erlanger.”

Other monthly highlights included an increase in the total number of surgical inpatients at Erlanger, which was 4.9% greater than August of last year and the number of patients transported by Life Force, Erlanger’s air ambulance service, which was 10% higher than (same month) last year.  Children’s Hospital at Erlanger also recorded a 13% growth in admissions over the previous year.

“These are challenging times and we have ten more months this fiscal year, but we are extremely pleased to report both of these positive financial performances tonight,” Erlanger CEO Jim Brexler told trustees, noting that the health system ended the fiscal year at $5 million in the black, despite uncompensated care costs of more than $82 million in 2010-11.   Brexler also told trustees that the staff “did a marvelous job,” and expressed “kudos to our managers and employees for their hard work in adjusting to these large volumes.”

With ten months left in this fiscal year, Erlanger has already incurred more than $13 million in uncompensated care costs. Two “Good Samaritan” cases cost the hospital more than $114,000 each in August.  The Hamilton County sales tax agreement expired in May of this year, reducing Erlanger’s annual appropriation from the county from $3 million to $1.5 million this fiscal year.

Monday’s meeting also included three resolutions, seeking board authorization of $16,696 in additional expenditures for site work at Erlanger at Volkswagen Drive; plans for the replacement and relocation of Southside Community Health Center, and authorizing the purchase of Plaza Surgery.