MAUMEE, Ohio — Although it was well known that McLaren St. Luke’s Hospital had seen its share of financial trouble in the past, Friday’s news that they would be discontinuing operations still sent a shock through the community.
After all, the McLaren Health Care Corporation, based in Grand Blanc, Michigan, promised to invest $100 million into the hospital when they acquired it in 2019.
The investment was not enough however.
On Friday, McLaren released a statement that highlighted declining revenues and monthly financial losses as a reason for the hospital closure in 2 months.
We asked - did McLaren St. Luke's Hospital sustain heavy financial losses prior to their shocking announcement - so let's VERIFY.
SOURCES
- 7 years of tax returns from the I-R-S for St Luke's Hospital
Even though St. Luke's is a tax-exempt organization according to the IRS, it's still been losing millions of dollars every year.
Back in 2014, the hospital reported net income of $20 million. But in 2016, the net income for the hospital dropped to about $9 million.
By 2019, when McLaren bought the hospital and said they'd invest a hundred million dollars into it, the hospital reported a LOSS of about $26 million.
The hospital began turning things around the next year - only losing $20 million.
Then in 2021 tax records revealed a net gain of $12 million.
Keep in mind - companies are filing taxes right now for fiscal year 2022 - the deadline is next month.
However, on Friday, the health care company said they were on track to lose a staggering $37 million in 2022.
THE ANSWER
Based on the information we have, we can VERIFY - yes - despite a net gain in 2021, McLaren did lose millions of dollars since purchasing the hospital for at least two of those four years, and probably three.
Their claims of monthly losses - is true according to these returns which calculate an entire year's worth of financial numbers.
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