A worsening investment income performance, along with higher personnel expenses, contributed to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reporting Wednesday a $354.86 million loss through three quarters of fiscal 2022.
By comparison, Baptist had $339.15 million in excess revenue during the same period in fiscal 2021.
In a not-for-profit organization, “excess revenue” is analogous to “profit” in a for-profit organization.
Baptist reported its fiscal 2021 revenue was boosted by $150 million “in net assets being released from restriction.” There has been no release of net assets so far in 2022.
Baptist has been affected by the turbulent overall stock market slump in reporting an overall $260.4 million investment income loss. That’s compared with a loss of $190.86 million through the first half of fiscal 2022.
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It had a gain of $117.23 million in investment income through three quarters of fiscal 2021.
Not-for-profit health-care systems, such as Atrium Health, Baptist, Cone Health and Novant Health Inc., depend on investment income to increase their bottom lines.
Those systems also have reported substantial investment income losses so far in fiscal 2022.
The financial report combines reports for N.C. Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University Health Sciences and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and all their affiliates.
The system became part of Charlotte-based Atrium Health on Oct. 9, 2020.
Atrium said in February 2021 that Wake Forest Baptist and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority, which oversees Atrium, still have separate credit groups and will continue to post separate quarterly filings “for the time being.”
Atrium reported Monday to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority that so far in fiscal 2022 it has had a $1.1 billion loss on its investments, compared with a $202 million gain in the same period last year.
Atrium’s total loss — which includes operations and investments — was $1.14 billion through three quarters of fiscal 2022, compared with a $452 million profit a year earlier.
Atrium projected it would have a $75 million operating loss in fiscal 2022 and estimated a $66 million operating loss for fiscal 2023.
It projected $7.71 billion in operating revenue and $7.78 billion in operating expenses for fiscal 2022, as well as estimated $8.1 billion in operating revenue and $8.17 billion in operating expenses in fiscal 2023.
For Baptist, total operating revenues and support through Sept. 30 were $3.14 billion, up 3.8% from a year ago.
Core patient services revenue rose 2.1% to $2.47 billion.
The revenue breakdown: $1.67 billion from N.C. Baptist Hospital; $1.01 billion from Wake Forest University Health Sciences; and $643.86 million from other Baptist-affiliated hospitals — High Point, Lexington, Davie and Wilkes medical centers.
Revenue from gifts, grants and contracts grew 6.6% year over year to $160.45 million.
Baptist reported $406.55 million in income from “other sources,” compared with $366.93 million a year ago. That revenue stream typically comes from federal incentive payments for implementing electronic health records.
Meanwhile, operating expenses were at $3.24 billion, up 9.1% from a year ago.
Salaries and wages jumped 12.8% to $1.61 billion, partly a reflection of Baptist raising in April 2021 the minimum wage of more than 1,500 employees systemwide from $12.50 to $15 an hour.
Employee benefits were up 0.2% to $312.23 million.
Clinical and laboratory expenses rose 6.3% to $767.66 million, with much of the increase coming from higher costs related to specialized COVID-19 treatments.
The quarterly expenses breakdown: $1.73 billion from N.C. Baptist Hospital; $1.07 billion from Wake Forest University Health Sciences; and $625.76 million from other Baptist-affiliated hospitals.
The system reported: 1.8% increase in outpatient visits to 1.43 million; a 5.3% increase year over year in outpatient operating-room cases to 32,013; a 3.3% jump in emergency-department visits to 152,219; and a 3% decrease in inpatient admissions to 43,861.
Baptist issued the quarterly report on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s website, www.emma.msrb.org.
The EMMA reports are aimed primarily at bondholders and ratings agencies, and typically are submitted about 10 to 11 weeks after the quarter ended.
