If your friends seem to be hanging around doctors more often, you aren’t alone. Atrium Health’s Charlotte and Georgia operations reported “staggering” growth during the first half of the year, Ken Haynes, the giant system’s Southeast region president, said this week.
Revenue at the system soared to $5.9 billion during the first six months of the year, which was $500 million, or 9%, more than it had budgeted. That revenue mostly comes from the Charlotte area, but includes Atrium’s smaller Georgia operations.
Last year, the region reported $9.3 billion in revenue for the full year, making up about a third of the total Advocate Health operation. It also includes Winston-Salem-based Wake Forest Baptist Health and lots of hospitals in the Chicago and Milwaukee metro areas. The entire system has annual revenue topping $30 billion.
Revenue increases also stem from price hikes, with Atrium raising rates by about 5% to 7% annually in recent years.
Atrium had operating income of $196 million during the first half, though it had budgeted a $20 million loss. Nonoperating income was $423 million, compared with $534 million a year earlier. That mostly reflects the performance of Atrium’s investment portfolio, which exceeds $7 billion.
The organization’s total net income was about $619 million during the first half, a 33% increase compared with $466.5 million a year earlier. Capital spending was $368 million during the six months.
Atrium officials said hospital discharges gained 6% from a year ago, while ER visits increased 5% and surgeries, 2%. Cardiac catheterization, oncology infusions and MRIs/CT scans all showed 10% increases, according to Rodney Ball, the regional chief financial officer. An average of about 3,360 people arrive at Atrium’s regional ER centers every day.
Haynes told the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority board that The Pearl medical innovation campus adjacent to Uptown Charlotte may open ahead of schedule in the first half of 2025. The research center includes a building that will house a Wake Forest University School of Medicine campus.
The system also said it expects to raise $233 million to add 44 inpatient beds at its Harrisburg hospital in Cabarrus County, pending regulatory approval. The expansion is likely to be finished in April 2026.
One other fun fact: Atrium employs nearly 12,000 nurses in the Charlotte area and 4,625 at Wake Forest Baptist. That’s a net increase of about 530 from a year earlier.
