Butler Memorial Hospital as seen on Wednesday, May 15. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Butler Health System, part of the merged Independence Health System, has posted its financial numbers for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2024 and results are mixed.
Over the 12-month period ending on Dec. 31, Butler Health System sustained an operating loss of $23.24 million. While still a loss, this marks an improvement over the same 12-month period ending a year earlier, in which Butler Health lost $36.9 million.
However, in the three-month period ending Dec. 31, Butler Health’s operating loss came out to $4.65 million, only a slight improvement over the $4.9 million lost in the same quarter in 2023. This is largely due to a jump in operating expenses from $122.75 million to $128.28 million in just one year, which offset a jump in revenue from $117.85 million to $123.63 million.
“Physician recruitment — and rising costs of all kinds, including labor — coupled in recent months with weather conditions that impacted outpatient visits, have contributed to losses,” said Tom Albanesi, Independence Health’s chief financial officer.
In addition, Butler Health’s days of cash on hand — a key metric for bondholders — dropped from 106.8 a year ago to 99.1.
Despite this, Albanesi said the quarterly results “reflect substantial progress year over year.”
“We have a strong balance sheet and remain committed to keep doing what we need to do to achieve financial goals, in addition to taking great care of patients every day,” Albanesi said.
Butler Health System’s report lists two sets of numbers in its quarterly financial statements: the obligated group, which is used by lenders; and the consolidated group, which is expanded to include entities such as the Butler Health System Foundation. The numbers above reflect the consolidated group.
Butler Health System is coming off a series of rating downgrades from both Moody’s and Fitch ratings. The most recent came in December 2024, when Fitch downgraded Butler Health from BBB- to BB+.
While Butler Health System merged with Westmoreland County-based Excela Health at the start of 2023 to form Independence Health, both sides of the merger are filing separate financial reports for the time being.
