CommonSpirit Health reports losses of $582M in first financial report since merger

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health posted a $582 million loss last year in the wake of the merger that created the Catholic health giant, officials reported this week.

The new health system—the largest nonprofit health system in the country by revenue—was created in February through a merger between Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health.

In their consolidated financial report for their fiscal year ending June 30, the health system reported a net loss of $290 million on revenue of almost $29 billion. That is down from $1.1 billion in earnings on $29 billion in revenue in fiscal 2019. The health system's operating loss was much higher—the $582 million loss—when taking into account special charges and merger-related costs.

“CommonSpirit has made huge strides toward creating a bold new health organization that will deliver care for many years to come and improve the health of communities across the country,” said CEO Lloyd H. Dean in a statement. "We know this is not an easy task and that we face challenges in the near term, which is why we are investing in a strong, disciplined business model that will help the organization evolve to meet the changing health care needs of our communities.”

Among the changes so far, officials said, the health system has centralized key functions such as quality and patient safety, contracting, and information technology while establishing 11 geographic divisions across 21 states. It has also begun to scale successful service lines and care models including its home health business, specialty pharmacy program, and value-based care agreements.

RELATED: With completion of $29B CHI-Dignity Health merger, CommonSpirit Health emerges