The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council has
released a report on the finances  of area hospitals for fiscal
year 2009, and it shows regional hospitals have been suffering in
the poor economy.

Fiscal year 2009 was for July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

“In fiscal year 2009, the financial health of Pennsylvania
hospitals deteriorated as hospitals struggled with ailing
investments and rising uncompensated care,” said Joe Martin, the
council’s executive director. “Overall, hospitals continue to be
affected by these difficult economic times.”

Seventy-three of the 166 individually reporting hospitals
reported a negative total margin in fiscal year 2009, including
Bradford Regional Medical Center, Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in
Coudersport and Kane Community Hospital. In fiscal year 2008, 51
hospitals (out of 169) posted a negative total margin.

Elk Regional Health Center in St. Marys posted the best
performance out of the four regional hospitals, with a 5.24 percent
total margin for fiscal year 2009. BRMC’s was -2.15 percent; Cole
Memorial was -2.32 percent; Kane was -1.1 percent.

The number of hospitals with a negative operating margin
increased from 55 in 2008 to 57 in 2009. For these hospitals,
operating expenses were greater than their revenue from patient
care and other operations. Among the 57 hospitals with operating
losses, 43 were smaller hospitals with annual net patient revenues
below $150 million.

The net patient revenue for 2009 from BRMC was $64,538,000; the
total operating expenses were $66 million. For Cole Memorial, the
net patient revenue was $59,866,000; the total operating expenses
were $62 million. For Kane, the net patient revenue for 2009 was
$15,726,000; the total operating expenses were $16,671,000.

For Elk Regional, the 2009 net patient revenue was $63,466,000;
the total operating expenses were $62,841,000.

The three-year average change in net patient revenue for BRMC
was 5.15 percent; Cole Memorial was 4.47 percent; Elk Regional was
4.14 percent; and Kane was 0.53 percent.

The operating margin for the hospitals — which reflects what
hospitals earn from patient care and related operations, such as
medical education and office rent — shows negative percentages for
three hospitals, with only Elk Regional showing a positive
percentage.

The operating margin for BRMC for fiscal year 2009 is -.74
percent; Kane is -.34 percent; and Cole Memorial is -1.44. For Elk
Regional, the margin is 4.21 percent.

The cost containment report also lists the percent of
uncompensated care — charity care and bad debt — as compared to the
total care provided by the hospital, as well as the Medicare and
Medical Assistance share of the net patient revenue.

For BRMC, the 2009 percent of uncompensated care was 2.03; at
Cole Memorial, it was 2.38 percent; Elk Regional, it was 2.77
percent; and for Kane, is was 2.47 percent.

For the Medicare share, BRMC is 40.52 percent; Cole Memorial is
42.52 percent; Elk Regional is 44.05 percent; and Kane is 44.19
percent. Medical assistance gets a smaller percentage, with 13.38
percent at BRMC; 11.5 percent at Cole Memorial; 14.07 percent for
Elk Regional; and 3.41 percent for Kane.