CommonSpirit Health doesn’t anticipate its hospitals will completely have to shut down elective procedures due to a massive COVID-19 surge but has warned some hospitals have had to curtail a few surgeries.
The 139-hospital system gave an update on its earnings and the impact of the pandemic during an investor call Thursday. CommonSpirit reported it is seeing an increase in cases but is managing its capacity so far.
At the end of September, the system had about 600 COVID-19 cases, and that figure shot up to 1,520 Thursday, said Chief Financial Officer Daniel Morissette during the call.
He downplayed any impact on the elective procedures CommonSpirit had to postpone or cancel at the onset of the pandemic back in March, much like systems across the country. Elective procedures are a key revenue driver for hospitals.
“We are not anticipating as of today any complete shutdowns of elective procedures, but the care of our patients and … the safety of our caregivers always comes first,” Morissette said. "Our intent is to stay open as much as we can and really to be cautious but recognize that patient safety comes first."
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But he cautioned that could change if the surge of COVID-19 gets worse.
“Some of our markets are to a point where if the case spike goes up significantly we will need to probably take more aggressive action,” he said.
That action could include limiting the number of visitors.
Morissette pointed to two markets being hit hard by COVID-19 now: Nebraska and Iowa.
Neither state has mandated hospitals cancel or delay elective procedures, but, for example, CommonSpirit has postponed some orthopedic surgeries in Nebraska while other types of surgeries such as cardiac and general cases are continuing, Morissette said.
The postponed surgeries represent a “small subset of surgical cases,” he added.
Meanwhile, other markets such as Texas have “caution flags” where intensive care units are getting full, Morissette said.
He hopes to work with governors and local officials across the system's markets to avoid a wholesale shutdown of elective procedures like those that happened back in March.
CommonSpirit posted a $550 million operating loss at the end of its fiscal year that ended in June. The patient volumes plummeted in March by 40%, and, while volumes rebounded in April and May, they were still below pre-pandemic levels.
The system reported a $167 million profit in its latest quarter as inpatient volumes recovered but were down 6.4% compared to the same quarter in 2019.
CommonSpirit also said that it needs more help from the federal government to plug the massive hole in revenue from COVID-19.
The system predicted a $1.3 billion decline in its financial performance due to COVID-19. Relief money from a $175 billion fund passed by Congress as part of the CARES Act only covers 75% of that decline, Morissette said.
The system has received $2.65 billion from Medicare’s Accelerated and Advance Payments Program, but that funding is a loan that must be paid back. CommonSpirit expects to pay 25% of its balance by September of next year.
Congress could provide another round of relief funding for hospitals as part of a broader COVID-19 package, but talks remain stalled.