Banner Health posted more than $3 billion in total revenues for the first quarter of 2021, a roughly $600 million increase over the beginning of 2020 when the nonprofit's business was hit hard by COVID-19.
That increase in revenue was, however, paired with a rise in costs. The system reported a year-over-year increase from $2.4 billion to almost $3 billion, nearly half of which was attributed to higher salaries and benefits payouts.
Still, Banner ended the quarter with $62.8 million in operating income—more than double the $30.6 million it reported in the first quarter of 2020.
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The system’s revenues over expenses for the quarter landed at $331.8 million compared to a loss of $678.4 million at the same time last year. Bolstering this was $181.9 million in investment income and $97 million in federal relief aid the system recognized as “other revenue” during the quarter.
To date, Banner said it has received about $465 million in CARES Act funding. It also received $654 million in Medicare Advance and Accelerated Payments, which will be recouped over 12 to 18 months beginning in April.
The system reported a total nearly $1.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as of March 31, almost $29 million less than it was holding at the end of the previous quarter.
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Phoenix-based Banner operates 30 acute care hospitals and hundreds of other locations across six western states. Its full-year earnings reported in March showed a 19% drop in income during 2020 ($586.7 million) compared to 2019 ($726.8 million).
The system is one of several nonprofits—UPMC, Mayo Clinic and CommonSpirit Health, to name a few—reporting gains in the early quarters of 2021.
Other large systems such as Ascension reported a loss for the quarter but were hopeful about the overall recovery trends their systems were seeing across patient volumes and other metrics.