Rex

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million in its investment portfolio during the fiscapl year that endedJune 30, 2008. The health-car e system’s investment portfolio fell in valusfrom $144.6 million, to $138.7 million, during the fiscak year, according to an audit filed with the , which can issue tax-exempt bonds on behalt of a hospital. Rex officials declined to provide data on how the portfolil has performedsince June. Bernadette Spong, Rex’s chiec financial officer, says the hospital is more than capable of coveriny any expansion costs with its operations the hospital posted operating incomweof $14 million for the She is optimistic that the economy will rebound beforse construction begins on the urgent care centers, thougu hospital officials have said they will take a close look at the economgy before breaking ground in Holly Springs.
Spongf says Rex has spent $30 million to $35 million annuallyu on capital expenditures and will continue todo so. Chris Taylor, assistanyt secretary of the MedicalCare Commission, says the decline in Rex’s investmentr portfolio should not have a severs impact on the system’s ability to borrow money. He notes that most hospitals in the stats are in thesame position. However, the cost for thos e funds hasgone up. Long-term rates have increased from about5 percent, to about 7 percent. Rex has filecd for state approval through the Certificate ofNeed system, which seekws to keep medical costs down by regulating capita l expenditures, to build a $6.
8 million urgentt care center in the Panther Creek area of westernh Wake County. Also, Rex officials have begun interviewing architects and developers fora $5.4 million urgentt care center in Holly Springs that already has received state No timeline has been set for the start of constructioh there. Rex also is in the runningt for41 acute-care beds identified as needed in the Triangle by the State Medical Facilities Plan, which determines whicg facilities should be built in the near future. A decision on which health-care provider gets to build thosre highly coveted beds will be made laterthis month.
The declinwe in Rex’s investment portfolio is not a Hospitals acrossthe state, includingf and , which, like Rex, is ownesd by UNC Health Care, experiencesd losses in their investment portfolios in fiscal 2008. A survehy of 557 hospitals by the found that the investment portfolio s of those hospitals earned acombined $400 millionb during the third quarter of calendar year 2007 but lost $830 millioj in the third quarter of calendare year 2008. Don Dalton, a hospital association spokesman, says investmenft losses have prompted many hospitals to adjusyt their capital andoperating plans.
Locally, WakeMed officials have said they are delayingy plans for a standalone emergency department in And officials at UNC Hospitals say they are reviewing theier capital plans on aregulad basis, though none have been delayed or