Dallas

Revenue, Visits Down This Month at Presbyterian Hospital

Revenue and hospital visits are down significantly at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas over the first three weeks of October, according to financial records released Wednesday.

Visits to the emergency room are down by more than half, 53.3 percent, during the period from Oct. 1-20, Texas Health Resources reported in a financial disclosure to bond holders.

Presbyterian Hospital became the first health care facility in the United States to diagnose a patient with the Ebola virus after Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who came to Dallas to get married, was admitted on Sept. 28.

Following Duncan's diagnosis, two nurses at the hospital, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, also became infected with Ebola.

Overall, patients at the hospital dropped by 21 percent over the reported three week period, as compared to each of the preceding nine months of 2014, hospital figures state.

The number of surgical patients also dropped, at a rate of about 25 percent during the same period.

The decline in patients resulted in an $8.1 million loss in net revenue, or 25 percent, for Presbyterian Hospital, according to the financial records.

The hospital system blames the declines primarily on the emergency department being placed in diversionary status for nine days, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 20, the records state.

Another contributing factor to the declines is that some physicians at Presbyterian Hospital transferred their patients and cases to other hospitals.

"It is too early to predict what, if any, material or significant financial impact this situation will have on Texas Health Resources (THR) as a whole," the report states.

The report adds that upon consultation with its insurance brokers, management has determined the system's insurance coverage is "consistent with industry norms" and is "adequate to cover any contingent liabilities which may occur as a result of the Ebola infections that have occurred to date," according to the filing.

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