Boston Medical delays fiscal 2004 results
Hospital has not convened board's audit committee
Boston Medical Center reported an operating profit in its fiscal first quarter, but in an unusual development, the hospital said it hasn't been able to convene the board's audit committee to approve the results for the prior year.
In the fiscal first quarter of 2005, which ended Dec. 31, 2004, Boston Medical Center said it had an operating profit of $2.9 million, compared with a $5.1 million loss in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 percent to $186 million from $159 million.
Most Massachusetts hospitals, including Children's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Tufts-New England Medical Center, have reported their fiscal 2004 results.
Ronald Bartlett, Boston Medical Center vice president for finance, said the hospital had a profit in all of fiscal 2004 and the fourth quarter as well, but he declined to be more specific.
Bartlett said disclosure is delayed because the hospital has not been able to schedule a meeting of the board's audit committee to approve the audit. He declined to say whether the audit itself is complete.
Pamela Federbusch of Moody's Investors Service does not rate Boston Medical Center, but said that hospitals sometimes release quarterly results out of order. But she said that investors generally do not like it when results are delayed by several months.
''In general, more information is better information," she said. ''It's for general disclosure and a comfort feeling knowing everything is OK."
Hospitals must report fourth-quarter results to the state by Nov. 15, and end-of-year results by Jan. 31.
The state monitors hospital finances quarter by quarter and releases them to the public as a way to stay alert to financially troubled institutions.
The state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy granted Boston Medical Center an extension until March 1.
The hospital's audit board is scheduled to meet March 7, and Bartlett said Boston Medical Center could seek another extension.
Ten of the state's 67 hospitals requested and were given extensions on filing their year-end results for 2004, state officials said.
Liz Kowalczyk can be reached at kowalczyk@globe.com.
