River Region parent company hikes bills, increases profits

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Operating revenues for Community Health Systems Inc., the parent company of River Region Medical Center, rose more than 7 percent during the first quarter of 2009, with credit given to cost controls and billing increases.

Though unspecified in a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the hikes were in all types of services provided by the nation’s largest publicly traded medical chain, from surgical procedures to doctor visits. Increases reportedly resulted in bills nearly 50 percent higher than previous visits for similar services.

The reported first-quarter revenues totaled $2.89 billion, compared to $2.689 billion for the same period in 2008.

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An increase in surgeries performed at the company’s 122 properties in 29 states also contributed to the higher revenues, though profits dipped slightly to $58.9 million through March 31 from $60.1 million a year ago at the same time. Admissions for the quarter dipped 2.2 percent because of a slow winter flu season, not enough to offset gains by closure of services the company described as unprofitable.

Self-pay revenues, or income derived from uninsured patients made up 11.6 percent of the company’s total operating revenue for the quarter, up from 10.8 percent a year ago. Acquisitions slowed due to the recession, as two hospitals in Arkansas have been added since the start of the year. On Friday, a subsidiary of CHS acquired a 392-bed hospital and a behavioral health center in Wilkes Barre, Pa.  

News of the firm’s financial picture comes on the heels of personnel moves that continued into 2009 at the firm’s facilities, including River Region. Salaries and benefits made up a lesser part of the Franklin, Tenn.-based company’s revenues in 2008 over 2007 by eight-tenths of a percent because of “efficiency improvements” at its hospitals during that time. Debts incurred from the company’s 2007 acquisition of Triad Hospitals Inc. have begun to equalize, according to the quarterly filing.

A staff makeover was among a litany of changes promised by River Region CEO Vance Reynolds soon after his arrival in December from a CHS-operated hospital in South Carolina. In statements made within weeks of his hiring, Reynolds referred to an aging medical staff and a need to improve communications with patients.

A spokesman who returned a call placed to Reynolds in February said the hospital’s new chief administrator declined to quantify the effects of the hospital operator’s strategies on the local hospital.

Changes in recent years have seen contract physician teams replace cardiovascular surgeons and emergency room physicians. In April, the Marian Hill chemical dependency unit moved to River Region West on North Frontage Road. Vicksburg Clinic staff have moved from the West Campus into The Street Clinic and Physicians Practices of River Region, a complex of outpatient clinics in Vicksburg.

In July 2008, Medical Associates of Vicksburg opened on South Frontage Road with a staff of former River Region physicians and headed by internist Dr. Paul Pierce III. It is operated by Central Mississippi Medical Center. In February, a pair of medical facilities run by former RRMC physician Dr. Stephen Sudderth opened off East Clay Street — Vicksburg Surgical Associates and Premier Medical Weight Loss of Mississippi.

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By Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com