Hospitals aren’t shy about spending thousands of dollars on new construction, hiring consultants and keeping up with their competitors to build the latest information technology system. Since all but two Oregon hospitals are nonprofit and all have positive bottom lines, The Lund Report took a deep nose into where those dollars are actually going by examining the 990s these hospitals are required to file with the Oregon Justice Department and has produced a detailed summary of the latest expenditures.
In earlier articles, The Lund Report dug into the money and operations of these major healthcare institutions. In our ten-part series, we looked at nearly every hospital in the state, examining Oregon Health & Science University and the federally-run VA Hospital, Providence Health and Services, Legacy Health, Kaiser Permanente, Salem Health, Asante, Samaritan Health, St. Charles Health System, and PeaceHealth, and hospitals operated by Adventist Health, by Catholic Health Initiatives and by Trinity Health. We also looked into independent hospitals, including Columbia Memorial, Good Shepherd, Grande Ronde, Santiam, Sky Lakes, and for-profits McKenzie-Willamette and Willamette Valley and Oregon’s public health districts -- Bay Area, Blue Mountain, Coquille Valley, Curry General, Harney District, Lake District, Lower Umpqua, Pioneer Memorial, Southern Coos and Wallowa Memorial.
Oregon hospitals spent $833.2 million on independent contractors in 2013, the latest reported filings, which represented a 70 percent jump from the previous year. Kaiser Permanente led the way, at $560.4 million. A majority of those funds went toward building its new hospital in Hillsboro, $260 million on construction costs to McCarthy Building Companies and Swinerton Builders – and another $181 million for engineering to Rudolph and Sletten Engineering.
Kaiser also spent a considerable amount of money on outside medical care in California for its Oregon patients that same year -- $82.8 million to UCSF Medical Center and another $36.8 million went to Mercy Hospital of Folsom in southern California.
Providence Health & Services does not itemize expenditures for independent contractors by individual hospital but clusters its eight hospitals together on its 990 tax forms. In 2013, those costs reached $85.5 million. Oregon Emergency Physicians received the top dollar -- $31.8 million in 2013, compared to $34 million the previous year, while The Oregon Clinic took in $9 million for its specialty services. On the construction side, Providence paid Andersen Construction Company $19.7 million that same year, while Cross Country Travcorps, an outside staffing firm based in Los Angeles took home $14.9 million and Anesthesia Associates Northwest, based in Portland, $10.1 million.
Legacy Health, meanwhile, not only revealed expenditures for its corporate headquarters, but also its individual hospitals in the Portland metropolitan area. Since its Salmon Creek facility is located in Vancouver, Wa., those costs are not included in the filing. All together Legacy spent $16.5 million on independent contractors in 2013.
Trauma Specialists LLP at Legacy Emanuel, which is a Trauma I designated hospital, was paid $8.5 million in 2013, the most costly expenditure at any Legacy facility while Legacy Health recorded spending $16.6 million on information systems with those dollars distributed to CDW Government, Nordisk Systems, Phillips Medical System, Microsoft Licensing GP and Presidio Networked Solutions. Oregon Health & Science University received $22.2 million from Legacy Emanuel, while Baugh Skanska, a construction company, received $2.5 million compared to $6.5 million the previous year.
Portland Adventist kept its expenses down to $5.3 million in 2013, with the majority going to Portland Psychiatric Associates, $1.8 million followed by Oregon Anesthesiology Group, $1.2 million with a similar amount paid to Northwest Cardiovascular Institute.
In southern Oregon, Asante Health spent nearly an equal amount – slightly over $2 million for specialty care with those dollars going to Southern Oregon Cardiology and Southern Oregon Hospitalists, while $1.6 million went to CVISO Management Company for cardiac care. Asante also relied on Mayo Collaborative Services based in Minneapolis for laboratory services at a cost of $1.3 million.
Help with consulting services at Epic Systems cost Salem Health $2.1 million in 2013, and it spent $2 million with Owens and Minor, also a consulting company. The hospital also paid Oregon Anesthesiology Group $1.6 million and PeaceHealth Laboratories, $1.4 million.
The Corvallis Clinic received $3.3 million from Good Samaritan Hospital, while it also paid Epic Systems Corp. $7.4 million; Caremedic Systems received $6.9 million, Evision Pharm Services, $5.8 million and Gerding Builders, $2.7 million.
In Bend, St. Charles Medical System needed the services of Cascade Medical Imaging, $14.1 million, while Howard S. Wright Consulting took home $4 million.
Beleaguered PeaceHealth, which has seen its share of executives leave the hospital system, brought in Huron Consulting Services, a Chicago-based firm, at a cost of $11.7 million, and $4.7 million the year prior for Delotte Consulting.
Overall, Tuality Health and Santiam Memorial Hospital reported the lowest expenditures in 2013, slightly more than $1 million.
Diane can be reached at [email protected].
