Kaiser, Ascension see big gains in operating income

Financial reports for Kaiser Permanente and Ascension Health saw double-digit increases in operating income, with some of the gains credited to acquisitions both systems have made in the past year.

Ascension’s report covered a nine-month period ending March 31. In that time, its operating income increased by almost 41 percent, to $642 million, with a $990 million increase in net patient service revenue. The health system credited this gain to its 2016 acquisition of Glendale, Wisconsin-based Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, which added eight hospital campuses to Ascension.

“Ascension is repositioning its portfolio of care delivery sites and has invested more heavily in outpatient assets to build out our clinically integrated systems of care such as expansion of primary care, urgent care, and large outpatient centers,” the company said in a press release. “Investments in these areas will position Ascension to successfully grow in a consumer-driven environment and successfully transition to value.”

For Kaiser, its first quarter 2017 report showed a 29 percent year-over-year increase in operating income, climbing over $1 billion on revenue of $18 billion. The Oakland, California-based hospital system and health plan, the largest integrated health system in the U.S., reported $18 million of the rise in operating income could be credited to its acquisition of Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative, which was completed on Feb. 1 after being announced in 2015.