Erlanger system's losses narrow

Erlanger Health System's first quarter ended with a $636,000 loss -- a little more than half its loss for the same quarter last year, according to Erlanger's financial report.

Erlanger reported a $906,000 loss for the month of September, according to Britt Tabor, the system's chief financial officer who presented the financial report Monday night.

The hospital had a little more than a $1 million loss in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, and a $1.3 million loss for September during that period.

Tabor said the budget is expected to get back on track.

"Keep in mind, here today we're only $600,000 in the negative. You can make that up fairly quickly," he told trustees at the hospital's budget and finance committee meeting. "We're still on track. If you look at how we did in August, we made $2 million, and then compare it to last year -- we're already significantly better than where we were last year."

Surgical outpatients and surgical inpatients were both under budget for the month of September, the report showed.

Total admissions in September were up almost 2 percent from last year, though they were under budget by about the same amount. Length of stay increased by almost 7 percent, he said.

Erlanger is working on initiatives that would streamline patient service and possibly shorten lengths of stay, Tabor said.

Contact staff writer Rachel Bunn at rbunn@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.