Today marked the quarterly meeting of the governing board of Atrium Health, the biggest health-care provider in North Carolina.
Here are 9 fast facts about Charlotte’s Atrium based on today’s meeting:
1. CEO Gene Woods says he’s “most concerned” about the impact of State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s efforts to cut spending on the N.C. State Health Plan by 10%. The move could cause significant harm to North Carolina’s rural hospitals, he says. Atrium officials are talking to state lawmakers and Gov. Roy Cooper about seeking “a much more measured approach.” The plan covers about 720,000 state employees and retirees.
2. Atrium plans a new building adjacent to its flagship hospital that will be 12 floors with 384 beds with an option to add another 60. It would replace most of the hospital’s operating rooms, loading docks and more. Nearby, the system plans two new office buildings to house services moved out of the main facility. One building will be mostly dedicated to Atrium’s Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute. No timetable is set for the construction.
3. Atrium plans a 40-bed hospital with two operating rooms in Union County near the intersection of the new Monroe Expressway toll road and U.S. 74. Regulatory approval is needed for the expansion, which will help Atrium attract business in fast-growing Stallings, Indian Trial and other parts of western Union County. Rival Novant Health as a small hospital in nearby Mint Hill.
4. In 2019, Atrium Health revenue is expected to decline by 6.2% to $9.6 billion because of a change in a management agreement with Roper St. Francis Healthcare in Charleston, S.C. Excluding that transaction, revenue should grow by 3.3%. The estimate doesn’t include its partnership with Macon, Ga.-based Navicent Health. The deal is expected to close this month.
5. Atrium projects operating income of $253 million, or 2.6% of revenue, in 2019, excluding Navicent. Not-for-profit hospital systems typically aim for 3% to 5% operating margins.
6. In the first nine months of 2018, Atrium had total revenue of $7.7 billion, up 4% from a year earlier, and operating income of $238 million,up 13%. But net income — which includes investment gains and losses — declined 48% to $426 million because of declining values in the system’s portfolio.
7. The system issued $400 million in new debt recently, paying interest of 1.8% to 2.6%. It had $3 billion of long-term debt as of Sept. 30.
8. Retired Charlotte banker Mac Everett is leaving the board after 23 years. But he will be joining the board of Macon, Ga.-based Navicent, which Atrium expects to acquire on Jan. 1. Everett is a native of Macon and graduate of the University of Georgia.
9. Chairman Ed Brown was re-elected to a new three-year term leading the board after a waiver of the hospital authority’s bylaws on age and tenure. Officials said it is important for continuity to keep the same leader in place. Brown is president of Hendrick Automotive Group, the big Charlotte-based car dealership group.
