Sex Sells CAN RUSSELL INSIDE Racy ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is like ‘Jane WILSON PLAY Eyre’ with sexting $73 ON SUNDAYS? IN COUPONS CAROLINA LIVING FORMER WOLFPACK QB ENTERS DRAFT WITH ANTICIPATION SPORTS 2012 TOTAL: $2,839 READ BY 1 MILLION+ IN PRINT AND ONLINE SUNDAY • APRIL 22, 2012 • $2.00 charlotteobserver.com CDEF ■ + $6.7 NONPROFIT HOSPITALS billion THRIVE ON PROFITS 6 CHS First of five parts 5 By Ames Alexander, Karen Garloch Hospitals in the Charlotte and Joseph Neff
[email protected] [email protected] region are among the most
[email protected] onprofit hospitals in the Char- profitable in the U.S. They have 4 lotte region are respected com- munity institutions. They save $3.4 lives, heal the sick and provide billions in investments and real billion N good jobs. At the same time, most of them are stock- estate. Experts say they should piling a fortune. Their profits have risen along with their 3 prices. Top executives are paid millions as do more to lower patients’ their hospitals expand, buy expensive tech- nology and build aggressively. rising costs. And they benefit each year from a perk Novant worth millions: They pay no income, prop- erty or sales taxes. Total revenue These institutions were created with 2 charitable missions. But many don’t act like $1.4 nonprofits anymore. In their quest for billion growth and financial strength, they have contributed to the rising cost of health care, leaving thousands of patients with bills they struggle to pay. 1 An investigation by The Charlotte Ob- server and The News & Observer of Ra- $1.04 Soaring revenue PHOTOS BY ROBERT LAHSER -
[email protected] leigh found that many Charlotte-area hos- billion Carolinas HealthCare System has watched its total pitals: annual revenue grow nearly five-fold since 2000; at • Generate some of the nation’s largest Novant Health, the number has more than tripled.