Hospital industry’s profit soars in Nevada

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- University Medical Center, the financially troubled Clark County-owned hospital in Las Vegas, posted a $17.6 million loss last fiscal year -- the second straight year the hospital has failed to break even or show a profit.

The state Division of Health Care Financing and Policy released its annual report today showing the Nevada hospital industry rebounded during the last fiscal year ending June 30, registering a profit of $87 million, up 63.5 percent from the prior year.

Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas was the state's most profitable hospital, reporting it was in the black $18.3 million. But that was down from the $20.4 million it earned in the prior fiscal year.

St. Rose Dominican Hospital at its Siena Campus in Henderson was the second most profitable in the state, posting a figure of $15.2 million, up from $10.8 million of the prior fiscal year. But the Rose de Lima campus hospital recorded a $3.8 million loss. That was less than the $5.7 million loss in the year that ended June 30, 2002.

The division said the $17.6 million loss of University Medical Center was an improvement from the prior fiscal year when it was $23.1 million in the red.

Vernon Manke, a spokesman for the division, said profit of Clark County hospitals rose 141.2 percent to $42.7 million as they regain some of the profit lost after 9-11.

Hospitals in Washoe County and Carson City reported $45 million in profit, up 41.6 percent.

The division said Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas lost $811,267. The prior fiscal year it was in the red $61,000.

Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas earned $13.2 million in profit, compared with $4.3 million the prior fiscal year.

Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center in North Las Vegas rebounded from a $1.5 million loss in 2002 to a $2.4 million profit last fiscal year.

Summerlin Hospital Medical Center posted $7 million in profit, down from the $9.3 million of the prior fiscal year.

MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas had $9.8 million in profit, up from $3.5 million of the prior year.

Boulder City Hospital reported a $980,835 loss, up from $178,339 in the prior year, according to the report.

The division said Washoe Medical Center in Reno reported profit of $13.2 million, up from $11.2 million of the prior fiscal year and St. Mary's Regional Medical Center's had $7.3 million in profit, down from $8 million in the prior year.

Profit at Carson-Tahoe Hospital in Carson City skyrocketed from $5.9 million in fiscal 2002 to $11.8 million last fiscal year. It is building a new hospital.

The report said the three privately owned hospitals in rural Nevada earned a combined $8.3 million. But the seven rural hospitals owned by the counties posted a $4.4 million loss.

Churchill Community Hospital in Fallon reported $2.2 million in profit; Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko had a profit of $6.6 million but Nye Regional Medical Center in Tonopah reported a loss of $648,528. All are privately owned.

Losses were recorded at Battle Mountain General Hospital, $1.6 million; Grover C. Dills Medical Center in Lincoln County, $420,089; Humboldt General Hospital, $2 million; Pershing General Hospital at $975,005 and South Lyon Medical Center, $320,796.

Rural county-owned hospitals that showed a profit were William R. Ririe Hospital in Ely at $248,136 and Mt. Grant General Hospital in Hawthorne at $636,416.