Advocate Aurora Health tied off its final pre-merger fiscal year with a $23.9 million operating loss and a $750.8 million net loss, according to an audited financial report released this week by the nonprofit system.
The performance is a step back from the $593.6 million operating income and more than $1.8 billion net income the organization had claimed back in 2021.
Like many other large systems, the 2022 downturn comes from a jump in labor expenses and striking investment losses.
As of early December, Advocate Aurora has joined North Carolina-based Atrium Health to form the country’s fifth-largest nonprofit hospital system, called Advocate Health. The joined organization spans 67 hospitals and serves 6 million patients per year.
This week’s numbers, however, reflect the state of Advocate Aurora’s operations and finances alone and outline what exactly the Midwest system is bringing to the new partnership.
For the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, Advocate Aurora saw $14.5 billion in total operating revenue, up from $14.1 billion the year prior.
Total expenses, however, outpaced revenue growth and rose from $13.4 billion to $14.5 billion. The uptick was fueled by an 11.7% year-over-year increase in salaries, wages and benefits expenses.
More stark was the flip from $1.3 billion total nonoperating income in 2021 to a nonoperating net loss of $681.8 million in 2022. The culprit here was Advocate Aurora’s investment returns, which dropped from a $1.3 billion net gain to a $723.2 million net loss from year to year.
As of Dec. 31, Advocate Aurora counted $372.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, $8.4 billion in total liabilities and $21.9 billion in total liabilities and net assets.