Beebe’s FY2015 numbers encouraging

Among many high notes in 2015, of special note is the success of Beebe Healthcare which in 2016 will be 100 years old. We, all of us in this Delaware Cape Region community, own Beebe Healthcare.

With a budget of nearly $350 million, that’s ownership with more than just a little bit of responsibility. A volunteer board of directors, led by many capable people through the decades ­- currently Judge William Swain Lee -­ carries that responsibility. It’s their job to make sure a competent group of administrators handles the day­-in and day­-out affairs of our hospital.

How are they doing? The most recent edition of The Beacon, Beebe’s periodic newsletter to the community, contains a summary of the organization’s financial performance for the fiscal year that ended June 30. In that 12­-month period, Beebe’s operating revenue ­- over $341 million ­ represented an 8 percent increase over the previous year. Expenses increased too, but not as much as revenues.

Total operating expenses of nearly $334,000,000 represented a 7 percent increase over the previous year. The big drum roll comes for the income­-from­-operations category, which most businesses call profit. At $7.2 million, that bottom-line figure represents a 50-percent improvement over the previous year’s $4.8 million.

Beebe President Jeff Fried said the improvement comes from more patients using both in­patient and outpatient services, and keeping an eye on expenses. That profit, of course, is critical as Beebe moves toward a major expansion to help serve the community for another century.

Ironically, this is all occurring in a healthcare organization that continues to place major emphasis on keeping people well and which spent more than $1.5 million in the same fiscal year on wellness programs. Christmas being a holiday of the heart - ­the seat of love - suggests a final note about this Beebe good-news story.

In 2015, Beebe introduced to our region the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease. This progressive program, based on nutrition, exercise and stress reduction, helps people with heart disease improve their health and quality of life. A community­-owned healthcare system that is itself financially healthy, and focused on keeping us healthy, is worthy of celebration.