Essentia Health Surgery Centers

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
881577422
IRS 990 coverage
2022–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Duluth, MN, USA
Phone
2187868376
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Health Treatment Facilities, Primarily Outpatient

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,054,733
Expenses
$18,097,951
Assets
$40,191,610
Liabilities
$56,147,627

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AL HURLEY (PRESIDENT & BOARD CHAIR)
  • KEVIN BOREN (VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE/BRD TREAS)

Highest reported compensation

  • TRACI MORRIS (TREASURER/REL ORG CHIEF FINCL OFF): $1,199,416 total reported compensation
  • BRADLEY BEARD (BOARD VICE CHAIR/REL ORG COO): $1,179,194 total reported compensation
  • MICHAEL WATTERS (SECRETARY/REL ORG CHIEF LEGAL OFF): $924,527 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

What it reported doing in 2024

Essentia health surgery centers is organized and shall be operated exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, serving as the operational parent of the essentia health entities owning and/or operating ambulatory surgery centers, including charitable care to persons unable to pay.essentia health surgery centers is the sole member of essentia health surgery centers-duluth, llc dba essentia health surgery center-miller hill, essentia health surgery centers-Minnesota, llc dba essentia health surgery center-grand rapids, and essentia health surgery centers-North Dakota, llc. Essentia health surgery center-miller hill has four operating rooms and offers a variety of outpatient surgeries and services including ear, nose & throat, eye, general, gynecologic, orthopedic, and urologic. Essentia health surgery center-grand rapids offers outpatient surgeries and services including colorectal, general and orthopedic.essentia health surgery centers employs approximately 35 full time equivalents. The surgery center provided more than 5,000 outpatient surgeries during fiscal year ended june 30, 2025.during the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025, essentia health surgery centers provided the following community benefits: $58,000 in charity care and $1.5 million costs in excess of medicaid payments.essentia health is the parent organization of an integrated health system that includes this organization and all entities that are owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by essentia health (collectively, the "system or "essentia health").

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 100% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 42
  • Sustainability: 24
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.9%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 0%; rating input score 0; 3rd 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: -38.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.4; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 7.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 43.4% per year; rating input score 100; 98th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 68.3% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 71.4% per year; rating input score 100; 99th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 0 of 5 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $16.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.2M · 11 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 29 of 29 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes executive pay and related organizations
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2022 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 30 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 2/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.