Blythedale Children's Hospital

What it reported doing in 2024

Inpatient services - blythedale children's hospital, founded in 1891, is a licensed acute care free-standing children's hospital that specializes in the care of children requiring rehabilitative, respiratory and complex medical care. Blythedale is designated by cms as a pps exempt, freestanding children's hospital. Within blythedale children's hospital, we provide a comprehensive range of services which include but are not limited to general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, pediatric pulmonology, child neurology, psychiatry, orthopedics, physical medicine, rehabilitation of multiple pediatric specialties (such as cardiology, infectious disease, ent, ophthalmology, etc.) blythedale maintains a core group of full-time specialty coverage in pediatrics, pulmonology, adolescent medicine, neurology, and psychiatry. Other subspecialty coverage is maintained and utilized as needed through a variety of contractual relationships with the area's leading academic medical centers. Blythedale also provides other vital clinical services such as nursing, respiratory therapy, psychology, child life, respiratory, speech, occupational and physical therapy, therapeutic recreation, social work and case management. The inpatient services are primarily composed of 5 major programs, physical medicine and rehabilitation services, ventilator weaning, traumatic brain injury, feeding therapy, and medical therapies for complex and chronic health conditions.in 2024, the hospital operated 94 licensed acute beds, and 24 pediatric long term care beds for a total of 118 licensed beds. Blythedale the largest inpatient post-acute tbi program in the region. Blythedale received over 937 regional inpatient referrals in the year and had 471 total admissions, of which 78% were reimbursed through the medicaid program in 2024. The hospital provided care to 449 inpatients throughout 2024, and ran an average daily census of 103. 100% of blythedale' s inpatient population is referred in from other acute care hospitals in the region, of which 58% are referred directly from intensive care units (icu's). This speaks to the high acuity of the patient population managed at blythedale. In 2024 the average age of our patients was 7 years old with 54% being below 6 years of age. This fact presents many unique challenges to the delivery of care as the hospital provides high quality to both the patients and the family. Blythedale discharged 90% of our kids home after admission, while 10% of our kids required on-going care in a long term care facility in 2024. Blythedale children's hospital doesn't operate primary care clinics, an emergency department or obstetrical services. These services are often the primary drivers of uninsured patients at acute care hospitals. Secondly, children, more so than adults have greater access to medicaid & child health plus (chp) reimbursement as a payer of last resort in New York state. These two factors significantly impact the reported amount of care classified as true charity care relative to full service acute care hospitals.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 77%; rating input score 77
• Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.87 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
• Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 5.6%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.57; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 6.7%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings