Over the last 16 months, St. Louis-based Ascension has sold or consolidated about 35 hospitals across the country as it revamps its hospital portfolio, operating model and overall financial performance. Despite reporting a $466 million operating loss (a -2.4% margin) for the nine months ending March 31, 2025, the Catholic nonprofit system has made notable strides in improving its liquidity position. That progress is largely attributed to the successful collection of accounts receivable that had temporarily spiked due to two major cybersecurity incidents — the May 2024 ransomware attack and the February 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack.

Since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 — the three months ending June 30, 2024 — Ascension has improved recurring operating performance by $1.4 billion,

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