Erlanger Health Systems has had a 61 percent growth in net patient revenue over six years, trustees were told on Monday.
Britt Tabor, chief financial officer, said, "Most hospitals are flat or have a decrease for inpatient. You just don't see this."
On the other side of the spectrum, Mr. Tabor said Erlanger is seeing a continuing sharp rise in the uncompensated care that it provides.
He said it may reach $135 million in the upcoming fiscal year. It was at $80 million five years ago.
The total this fiscal year is expected to end at about $130 million.
Kevin Spiegel, Erlanger president, said as the uncompensated care burden rises, Erlanger is getting fewer dollars from the federal and state governments to cover those costs.
Mr. Tabor, previewing the upcoming budget, said $3 million is being included for employee compensation.
There will also be "a lot of money for quality initiatives" and for infrastructure, he said.
The hospital continues to pay for "refinements" to the expensive new EPIC electronic records system.
Mr. Tabor said a budget bright spot is that the Southside/Dodson Avenue Centers will be at a break-even basis after losing about $2 million per year for a number of years.
He credited director Angel Moore "for doing a fantastic job."
The finance director said the hospital Erlanger acquired at Murphy, N.C., should make about $548,000.
He said the Bledsoe hospital operated by Erlanger should have a loss of $500,000, but he said, "We are allocating more overhead there."
Mr. Spiegel said Erlanger is not experiencing the problems it once did with nurses leaving for other hospitals after being trained at Erlanger.
He said it was found that Erlanger-trained nurses were exiting for other hospitals in years 3-5. Erlanger responded by beefing up the pay during that stretch.
Mr. Spiegel said, "That has almost eliminated the problem of nurses leaving."
He said nursing director Jan Keys has also developed a close association with UTC, Chattanooga State, Southern Adventist and other local nursing programs.
Tanner Goodrich, Erlanger vice president of operations, said the hospital is entering in a three-year agreement with Tennessee Oncology to provide radiation oncology services.
University Oncology previously provided the service, but it had two physicians leave.
Mr. Goodrich said the annual expenses for the services will not exceed $731,520 - which he said is a savings of $110,000, conservatively.