Pocono Medical Center navigates financial changes

June 10--Pocono Medical Center operated more profitably last year than in the past, according to a recent statewide report, despite "a changing healthcare environment" that prompted 55 layoffs last month at PMC.

But Pocono Medical Center spokesman Geoffrey Roche says the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council financial study of hospitals across the state already is outdated. The East Stroudsburg hospital is absorbing even more costs for non-paying patients this fiscal year, which ends June 30, than during the 2015 fiscal year covered by the PHC4 report, he said.

"That's almost a year ago," Roche said of the report on individual hospitals across the state. "There's no correlation with where we stand today."

Net patient revenue at PMC totaled $258 million for fiscal 2015, compared to operating expenses last year of $248 million, the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council study says. This 6.87 percent operating margin compares to a 5.3 percent margin between patient revenues and expenses in fiscal 2014 (when net revenue totaled $234 million), and a 4.5 percent operating margin in 2013.

The percentage of care for which PMC received no compensation in fiscal 2015 was 4.34 percent, compared to 4.5 percent in 2014 and 3.87 percent in 2013. That 4.34 percent of patient costs absorbed by PMC ranked fourth highest among 15 regional hospitals surveyed, Roche noted. The uncompensated care was provided for patients with no health insurance and for "under insured" people with high co-pays and deductibles, he said.

"That I know for a fact has been a significant issue for us for years," Roche said.

Reimbursement from Medical Assistance, which provides health coverage for the poor, resulted in a shortfall of more than $23 million last fiscal year for PMC, he added.

Pocono Medical Center -- whose parent company is seeking regulatory approval for a corporate takeover of Pocono Health System by Lehigh Valley Health Network -- eliminated 55 jobs last month. Most of the layoffs, said to total about 2 percent of the hospital's workforce, were among management and non-clinical staff.

PMC is constantly looking to reduce costs to better serve patients while coping with lower government reimbursements and demands for all hospitals to provided better health outcomes, hospital officials said.

"This report serves as a reminder to our community leaders that PMC is an economic and social anchor providing excellent care close to home," said Jeff Snyder, president and CEO of Pocono Health System/Pocono Medical Center. "Despite the challenging financial times that all hospitals face, we have continued to move forward by introducing new services and physicians, building new health care centers, and providing a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens."

Pocono Health System also is coping with new competition.

St. Luke's University Health Network, which operates hospitals in Northampton and Lehigh counties, is building a 108-bed hospital off Route 611 in Bartonsville. Pocono Health System has countered with plans to build a second PMC hospital north of the St. Luke's facility, in Tannersville.

___

(c)2016 the Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Visit the Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pa. at http://www.poconorecord.com/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.