OHSU operating income for the 2015 fiscal is $110 million, $40 million above budget and $15 million or 16 percent more than the prior year. Of that extra $40 million, $22 million is OHSU’s share of the first year of the Hospital Transformation Performance Program, a new value-based payment within Oregon’s Medicaid coordinated care transformation, which is funded by a hospital provider tax and the rest comes from more overall patient activity.
The number of uninsured patients served also has dropped to 1.1 percent, an 80 percent reduction. Chief financial officer Lawrence J. Furnstahl called the expansion of Medicaid “a good thing for Oregon” bringing the state $2 billion a year in federal funds since the ACA took effect. “As the largest single hospital, it’s been a good thing for OHSU” as well, he said. Abby Tibbs, director of state/local relations, says OHSU is now watching how the state will fill a $500 hole in Medicaid funding when federal funds drop off in 2017.
Tibbs told the board that OHSU received full funding with state appropriations of $77.3 million for 2015-2017, along with the reauthorization of $200 million in bonds to pay for South Waterfront construction to support the OHSU Knight Cancer Challenge.
OHSU’s current consolidated net worth is more than $2.5 billion for the first time, the result of record operating income plus Gert Boyle’s $100 million gift to the Knight Cancer Challenge.
Jennifer Ruocco, associate vice-president and chief integrity officer, updated the board on OHSU’s upgraded Code of Conduct that now adds social media and conflict resolution to its existing conduct around core values. She said clinical enterprise integrity in March unified under one officer and one oversight committee rather than three and the encryption of computers to protect data in case of theft further strengthens OHSU’s firewall.
When asked how such measures are taking hold, Ruocco described behavior change as an “evolving area” in compliance. The number of hotline calls, issues spotted and audits done are what she called a measure of “busyness rather than effectiveness.” Jan can be reached at [email protected].
