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Kaiser Permanente Hawaii ended the third quarter with a profit of $1.2 million, following an eventful month in which the company was selected to operate three Maui county hospitals.
The state’s largest health maintenance organization — both an insurer and medical provider — posted earnings of $1.5 million in the year-earlier quarter.
The HMO reported collecting the same revenue — $329.5 million — as it paid out in expenses in the quarter ended Sept. 30. That’s up from $306.5 million in revenue collected in the 2014 quarter and $305.8 million in expenses. Kaiser’s bottom line was boosted from $1.2 million in investment income.
“We ended the quarter at break even with only investment income helping to achieve a small margin of 0.4 percent. This reflects our work to price plans affordably for our members and customers.,” said Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott. “Outpatient prescription costs and outside medical costs were higher than anticipated and continue to be the primary challenge in our affordability work.”
The Hawaii Health Systems Corp.’s Maui regional system board announced in September that Kaiser won a bid to operate and manage Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital and Lanai Community Hospital.
Kaiser, which has more than 55,000 members on Maui, beat out Hawaii Pacific Health, parent company of Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Straub Clinic & Hospital and Wilcox Health on Kauai. The company is in negotiations with Gov. David Ige to assume control of the Maui region. It has committed to keeping the hospitals open to the entire Maui community, not just its members, meaning Kaiser will accept patients with other health plans, including rival Hawaii Medical Service Association.
Kaiser said it gained nearly 12,000 members so far this year, bringing total membership to more than 243,000 as of the end of the third quarter.
