Hospital systems in Colorado saw improved finances in 2024, but Medicaid cuts are ‘looming threat’

Hospital systems in Colorado shared an improved financial year in after rising costs made for thinner margins the previous year Of the six hospital systems in the Denver area only CommonSpirit Fitness which owns the Catholic hospitals that formerly were part of Centura Physical condition shared it lost money on its operations at the national level Operations include subject care and supportive services such as parking or cafeteria sales but not profits on investments CommonSpirit landed in the red by million or about in the fiscal year that ended in June In the six months from July to December it lost an additional million on operations though investments pulled it into the black The system s financial performance was worse in the second half of than during the same period in the previous year A spokeswoman declined to discuss CommonSpirit s finances The other systems in the area except for Denver Wellness which revealed it broke even posted profits at the national level AdventHealth HCA Healthcare and Intermountain Strength didn t release state-level numbers but disclosed their hospitals in Colorado and surrounding states didn t perform as well as their nationwide profit margins would suggest was a pretty dire financial year and while improved slightly greater part hospitals aren t yet in a sustainable position stated Tom Rennell senior vice president of financial initiative and statistics analytics for the Colorado Hospital Association The average expenses to operate a hospital in Colorado rose about last year continuing a pattern of costs outpacing revenues he stated At those levels it s incredibly tough for insurance reimbursement to keep up he noted Nationwide hospitals averaged a profit margin in according to Becker s Hospital Review Close to two in five hospitals lost money though The outlook remains challenging HCA Healthcare which owns the HealthOne hospitals had the highest profit margin on operations of the systems that operate in Denver coming out ahead by about nationwide HCA ended with a billion profit up from billion in Stephanie Sullivan spokeswoman for HealthOne commented the Colorado hospitals lag behind the rest of HCA financially though she declined to say by how much The state was less effective than multiple in keeping Medicaid recipients covered at the end of the COVID- citizens healthcare urgency has relatively high costs and is more aggressive than preponderance in auditing Medicaid payments she explained Although the legislature is working to address specific of these issues the outlook remains challenging Sullivan explained AdventHealth wasn t far behind HCA with a roughly profit margin on operations close to twice its margin in It earned about billion on its operations and about million from investments and other sources of income The region that includes Colorado didn t meet its goals in though it still has a solid financial foundation AdventHealth spokeswoman Rachel Robinson commented She attributed the unspecified shortfall to the process of separating from CommonSpirit Soundness when Centura Vitality broke up in UCHealth runs on a July-to-June fiscal year rather than calendar years so its numbers don t compare exactly to HCA s and AdventHealth s Its financial filings established it earned about million on operations for about a profit margin in the year that ended in June It received another million from investments Both sources of income were up compared to the previous fiscal year UCHealth had a slightly lower margin for the six months from July to December earning about on operations which was essentially unchanged from its profit margin for the second half of A announcement from the system stated labor and supply costs stabilized in but uncompensated care continues to increase because people previously covered by Medicaid haven t discovered new insurance Ongoing federal Medicaid uncertainty poses additional financial hurdles for this year and next year UCHealth s comment commented Intermountain Healthcare had a million profit on its operations or about a margin It also communicated almost billion in capital income The region that includes Colorado Wyoming and Montana lost money however spending about million more than it took in on operations the system noted Still it was an improvement over when it lost about million Although Intermountain Medical generated a positive operating margin the Peaks region is still challenged by costs of providing care remaining higher than the payments received for care the system declared in a announcement Denver Robustness benefits from new tax Denver Wellness roughly broke even on operations last year and earned about million in profit with investments included a less than margin for a system with a billion budget It succeeded in reducing how much it spent on short-term staff in but an increase in uncompensated care ate up largest part of those savings controller Justin Helsper explained Related Articles Denver Healthcare unveils plan for million coming from new sales tax this year Colorado legislature ends with an AI fizzle as delay falters further stoking talk of a special session In cash-strapped Colorado lawmakers tap an unorthodox pot of money for priorities But is it too risky Live updates Personnel react to killed AI bill hospitals-pharma fight nears end immigrant protections finalized Live updates Gov Polis signs law requiring citizens schools to set book-removal policies hospital showdown in legislature The system has started receiving funds from a sales tax that Denver voters approved last fall which should bring in about million this year chief financial officer April Audain reported The money will partially offset the uncompensated care the safety-net hospital provides and allow it to expand services such as mental physical condition and addiction restoration she announced The sales tax will offer a few increased financial stability though not enough to offset Denver Strength s losses if the federal administration made key cuts to Medicaid Audain revealed Congressional Republicans have called for billion in cuts to the insurance project over years though they haven t disclosed a plan Hospitals face financial challenges this year including practicable increased costs due to tariffs and an increase in uncompensated care if the economic activity takes a downturn Rennell declared But Medicaid cuts are the most of worrisome possibility because hospitals would no longer get paid for crisis care they have to provide to people who lose their coverage he noted That is the biggest looming threat Audain declared Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get physical condition news sent straight to your inbox