YNHH Expects First-Ever Deficit

Yale New Haven Health anticipates ending this fiscal year with its first-ever deficit due to the pandemic, according to officials — so they’re looking at ways to cut down cost, while avoiding layoffs for now.

YNHH CEO Marna Borgstrom reported the news Thursday during a Zoom call with reporters.

She said that the hospital system has lost an ​“unprecedented” sum of over $450 million during its efforts to address Covid-19. YNHH has received federal CARES Act funds of about $320 million to help offset that deficit; some of those funds, Borgstrom said, are Medicare advances that will need to be paid back.

Borgstrom did not have precise figures for the net loss this fiscal year, but she estimated that it would run between $70 and $100 million. This would be the first deficit that the health system has seen since its formation in 1996.

The fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The health system spent well above what was expected as it expanded intensive care unit capacity, creating negative air pressure inside facilities, and buying personal protective equipment, Borgstrom said. Meanwhile, for around three months early on in the pandemic, elective procedures were all but stalled, stifling a key source of hospital income.

“We continue to be hopeful that we will see more through the CARES Act, but … frankly I’m not optimistic,” Borgstrom said. She noted that other states are facing pressing crises, from wildfires on the West Coast to hurricanes on the East Coast, that will compete for federal resources.

Borgstrom expressed concern over how the hospital system’s creditworthiness will fare in light of this deficit.

“We will continue as we have for years to focus on ways to lower our costs,” she said. ​“We have to continue to innovate to find ways to deliver better care more efficiently.”

One of these paths towards cost-cutting, as Borgstrom has alluded to previously, is continuing the use of telehealth visits when possible. This potential avenue will depend on whether healthcare coverage from third-party payers will continue to extend to telemedicine.

Borgstrom said that for now, the YNHH plans to avoid laying off employees. ​“Our values are not to go to our employees as the first line of defense in cost reduction,” she said. The system employs 26,028 people, according to its website.

Reported Cases Rising

At the moment, according to hospital officials, 18 hospital patients in the statewide health system have tested positive for Covid. Thirteen of those patients are in Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven; two are at Bridgeport; and two are at Greenwich.

According to DataHaven, New Haven County saw 225 new positive Covid tests between Sept. 8 and Sept. 15 — a 60 percent spike from the previous week, which saw 141 new positive Covid cases.

Fairfield County detected 452 new cases between Sept. 8 and Sept. 15, a 133 percent spike from the previous week.