Main Line Health had an operating loss of $28 million over the summer, smaller than last year
The result improved, but it continued a four-year run of losses in the organization's first quarter.
Main Health Health reported an operating loss of $28 million over the summer, a financial improvement on its $41 million loss in the same period a year earlier.
A key factor: The nonprofit system with four acute-care hospitals in Philadelphia’s western suburbs had the smallest percentage increase in its labor costs since 2018.
The organization spent $287 million on salaries and fees for outside labor in the three months that ended Sept. 30. That amounted to a 4% increase over the same period a year ago — far less than the 15% increase in labor expenses a year earlier, according to an unaudited financial statement shared Thursday with municipal bondholders.
Main Line’s revenue over the summer (the first quarter of its fiscal year) climbed 5.7%, to $564 million from $533 million last year. The system saw strong gains in emergency department visits and outpatient surgery center cases, but declines in the number of days patients spent in the hospital.
Doylestown Health reports losses
Separately this month, Doylestown Health also reported a smaller loss for the quarter that ended Sept 30. The Bucks County nonprofit posted a $5.4 million operating loss this year compared to a $14.1 million loss last year. Doylestown’s revenue increased 1%, to $104.4 million.
Excluding the benefit of federal pandemic relief funds for hospitals, the last time Doylestown had an operating profit in the first quarter of its fiscal year was 2014, according to its financial reports.