Fletcher Allen releases Q3 financial results

Fletcher Allen reported an operating income of $18.6 million for the first three quarters of the 2011 fiscal year. This includes an operating income of approximately $9.6 million for the third quarter. The third quarter covers the period beginning April 1 and ending June 30. This result reflects our spending significantly less on expenses than budgeted, while the trend of declining patient care revenues year-to-date continued to remain below budget.
Third Quarter Results
Operating income for the third quarter was $2.5 million above budget and $700,000 below the corresponding quarter in FY 2010. Net operating revenues for the quarter were $229 million, $1.7 million below budgeted revenues. The organization's operating expenses for the quarter were $219.4 million, $4.3 million under budget, resulting in an operating income of approximately $9.6 million and an operating margin of 4.1% for the third quarter. By comparison, the organization produced an income from operations of $10.3 million in the third quarter of FY 2010.
Year-to-date Results
On a year-to-date basis, the $18.6 million net income from operations was above the budgeted $9.5 million for the period, and produced an operating margin of 2.8%. A year ago, the organization generated a three-quarter operating gain of $17.3 million. For nine months of the fiscal year, net operating revenues were $673.8 million, $6.3 million below budget. Operating expenses were $655.2 million, below budget by $15.4 million.
A key financial indicator, earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBIDA) stood at approximately $67.4 million for three quarters. This was above the FY 2011 budget forecast of $61.5 million. EBIDA provides a good measure of the organization’s actual earnings.
At the end of the third quarter, days cash on hand stood at 132 days using a 12-month
rolling average, compared to 106 days last year. This indicator is a projected estimate of the number of days an organization could meet operating expenditures provided no additional revenues were received.
A High-Performance Organization
Fletcher Allen compares well with peer groups outside the state in terms of quality and efficiency. This year’s University Healthsystem Consortium (UHC) Quality and Accountability Study results placed Fletcher Allen 14th among 101 member academic medical centers across the country in quality of care and patient safety. This is a considerable improvement from the 41st place ranking achieved in 2009.
In addition, Fletcher Allen Health Care has received a full three-year accreditation from The Joint Commission in August. The Joint Commission is a non-profit organization that accredits health care organizations on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The commission’s final report contained no ‘significant findings,’ a term used when a situation or condition is serious enough to warrant immediate correction.
Regionally, Vermont’s Act 49 report issued last year with data from Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine showed that Fletcher Allen’s hospital service area had the lowest rate of Emergency Department visits and the lowest rate of potentially-avoidable ED use. Fletcher Allen’s service area also had the lowest per-member per-month expenses for insured patients in the three-state region.
About Fletcher Allen
Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont’s academic medical center. Our mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities we serve by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment. Fletcher Allen serves as a regional referral center -- providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and northern New York -- and as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties.
The institution began making its quarterly financials public with the release of the first quarter results for FY 2003 in February 2003. The audited financial statements as well as unaudited quarterly results for FY 2003 through the third quarter of FY 2011 are available on the Fletcher Allen Web site at www.fletcherallen.org.
For more information about Fletcher Allen, find us online at http://www.fletcherallen.org or on our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blog sites at www.fletcherallen.org/socialmedia.