MD Anderson has worked to improve its finances through various efforts, including layoffs, since reporting a combined $102 million operating loss in the first two months of fiscal year 2017 and a $9 million operating loss in the following month. Things looked positive about a month ago, as MD Anderson reported operating in the black for the first time since January 2016.
But MD Anderson posted a deficit last month that resulted in expenses $12 million higher than revenues for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, according to the Houston Chronicle. In the report, MD Anderson attributed the financial setback to Hurricane Harvey, which wreaked havoc on the Texas coast in August and led to decreased patient volume as a result of the storm, as well as increased overtime toward the end of last month. As a result of Hurricane Harvey, MD Anderson closed outpatient clinics from Aug. 28 to Aug. 30, according to the report. Those clinics reopened on a limited basis shortly after.
MD Anderson reported an operating loss of $23 million in August, according to the Houston Chronicle. MD Anderson CFO Ben Melson estimated the institution would have had an August operating surplus of $37 million if Hurricane Harvey hadn’t hit.
“Harvey was a bump in the road,” Mr. Melson told the Houston Chronicle. “August would have been positive had the flooding not occurred, but we’ll make up for it in September.”
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