Center for Open Government: Most recent documents raise the same questions for UofL Health
Documents from UofL Health’s August board meeting provide Kentucky taxpayers with the most recent glimpse of the health care system’s financial condition before their October report is due to a legislative oversight committee.
Earlier this year, documents obtained from UofL Health through the state’s open records statutes revealed that Jewish Hospital lost $11.1 million during the first six months of their fiscal year. Our previous posts (May 18 & July 13) raised questions about the role federal CARES Act funds are playing in creating the appearance of profitability at Jewish Hospital.
The latest information reinforces those earlier questions and puts the onus on UofL Health officials to provide an accurate account to lawmakers of what exactly is going on from a financial standpoint at Jewish Hospital - as well as the broader UofL Health system.
Here’s what the August documents revealed:
At the end of June, operating EBITDA YTD at Jewish Hospital was $39.79 million against an expected loss of $17.18 million. This positive result was achieved despite Jewish apparently missing their budgeted patient volume by 15,086.
For the month of June, Jewish Hospital EBITDA was favorable by $20.7 million compared to budget, primarily due to $20.1 of CARES Act funds recognized and transferred from University Medical Center (“UMC”).
UofL Health total CARES Act payments as of June 30 totaled $135.6 million. (Link)
With over $1.07 billion in assets, UofL Health remains a financial giant. Unaudited cash and cash equivalents totaled $177.37 million at the end of their fiscal year. (Link)
In June 2019, UofL President Neeli Bendapudi said acquiring Jewish Hospital without a partner was too big of a risk for the University of Louisville to undertake. UofL then embarked on a lobbying campaign in Frankfort to secure a taxpayer-backed loan to support their eventual purchase of the hospital.
The $35 million loan to UofL Health is financed through bonded debt. The debt service for the loan costs taxpayers $3.07 million annually. Up to half of the loan can be forgiven by the Cabinet for Economic Development beginning in 2025.