St. Vincent Hospital Owner Earned $834M In Q2, Stimulus Included

WORCESTER, MA — The corporation that owns St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester earned $834 million in the second quarter of 2021 — including a $24 million federal stimulus payment — which is about $100 million more than it earned in the same period in 2020.

Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare reported its earnings Wednesday, highlighting that the company made about $120 million in profit in Q2 — 36 percent more than it earned in the second quarter of 2020. Since the beginning of 2021, the company has earned about $217 million in profit.

Tenet also boosted how much it's projected to earn by the end of 2021 from $3.15 billion to $3.25 billion, according to the company's 8-K filing.

Hundreds of St. Vincent Nurses are on strike, and leaders of their union have targeted Tenet, saying the for-profit company can afford their demands. The nurses are seeking new pay and benefits agreements, but have mainly focused on increasing nurse staffing levels inside the hospital.

A contingent of St. Vincent nurses traveled to Dallas in June to present Tenet executives with a proposal to end the strike. Talks had broken down between the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) and St. Vincent executives prior to the trip.

Tenet's $24 million Q2 stimulus payment — $18 million after taxes — came on top of more than $2 billion in federal stimulus payments the company got in 2020. Those payments include grants and advance Medicare payments.

Elected officials have highlighted the stimulus payments as reasons why Tenet should meet the nurses' demands.

"Enough BS press releases and bad excuses," U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester) wrote in a July 6 tweet. "[Tenet] is a multi-billion dollar company. They got $850 million in stimulus money. They’ve had 100+ days to reach a deal. Tenet: end this now & give nurses the resources they need to safely care for patients!"

The two sides were set to resume negotiations on Thursday and Friday, about two weeks after a July 9 meeting that did not produce a compromise. The nurses strike reached 137 days on Thursday.

"While both parties came to the table with modifications to their positions, Tenet failed to address needed staffing improvements in key areas that the nurses need to end the strike and re-enter the hospital to provide the care their patients require," the MNA said about the July 9 meeting.

Tenet also owns the MetroWest Medical Center hospitals in Framingham and Natick.