After reporting a $1.1 billion net loss in the first quarter, Kaiser Permanente's revenue, operating income and net income for its nonprofit hospital and health plan units increased year over year in the second quarter of this year.
The Oakland, Calif.-based healthcare giant reported operating revenues of $22.1 billion in the second quarter of 2020, up 3.3 percent from the same period a year earlier. Kaiser also saw expenses decline about 1.5 percent year over year to $20 billion.
"Deferred elective surgeries and procedures due to stay-at-home orders across the communities we serve contributed heavily to our second quarter results by temporarily reducing our operating expenses," Executive Vice President and CFO Kathy Lancaster said in an earnings release.
Kaiser spent $907 million on capital projects in the second quarter, up from $710 million in the same period a year earlier. The system made investments in technology and infrastructure, including reconfiguring hospitals and building new clinical capacity to care for COVID-19 patients.
The 39-hospital system ended the second quarter of this year with operating income of $2.1 billion, up from $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year.
Kaiser's unique integrated model — it provides healthcare and health plans — makes it difficult to compare its financial results to those of other systems that do not receive member premiums. As of June 30, Kaiser had 12.4 million health plan members, 183,000 more than in December. Most of the growth occurred during open enrollment, which occurred pre-COVID-19, Kaiser Senior Vice President and Treasurer Tom Meier told Becker's Hospital Review.
As a result of improved financial market conditions in the second quarter, the system reported strong growth in investment returns, Mr. Meier told Becker's. That recovery pushed Kaiser's net income to $4.5 billion in the second quarter of this year, up from $2 billion in the same period of 2019. In the first quarter of this year, Kaiser reported a nonoperating loss of $2.4 billion, generated largely by investment losses.
As the system continues to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring patients and health plan members have access to needed care and testing is a top priority, Chair and CEO Greg Adams said in an earnings release.
"We have now reintroduced care that was halted during the stay-at-home orders, expanded our services, especially virtual care, and are working with members to schedule care that may have been deferred," Mr. Adams said. "Moreover, we are working to expand our testing capabilities by purchasing our own testing equipment and building Kaiser Permanente testing labs, partnering with state and local health departments to support robust contact tracing, helping to slow the spread of the virus through education and household prevention kits, and helping our customers maintain their health coverage through these difficult times."
Looking at results for the first six months of this year, Kaiser reported net income of $3.4 billion on revenues of $44.7 billion. In the same period a year earlier, the system posted net income of $5.2 billion on revenues of $42.8 billion.