UMC loses $87.2 million for fiscal year

Even as activity at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada continued to shrink, the operating loss widened.

For its fiscal year ended June 30, the county-owned hospital posted an
$87.2 million loss, 2.6 percent larger than in 2010 but slightly less than budgeted. At the same time, net revenues of $467.4 million marked a 4.6 percent drop from one year ago and nearly as much compared with the budget.

UMC has now generated operating losses for 10 straight years, after showing positive income before 2002. This past year's loss was the biggest ever.

Continuing the trend of several years, the amount of time patients spend in UMC fell by even more than expected at the start of the year. Numerous hospitals across the valley have faced falling patient loads as more people lose health insurance coverage.

UMC faces the additional problem of losing patients to the hospitals that have opened in the outlying areas in the past decade.

And even though the total amount of UMC patients' bills increased along with health care prices, the percentage of the patients' bills the hospital collected declined.

Because of deteriorating income, UMC management reduced operating expenses by 3.7 percent, to $539.7 million.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.