Largely due to its success in refinancing debt and boosting investment earnings, Pittsburgh's West Penn Allegheny Health System turned a $6.9 million net profit for the first six months of fiscal 2008, up a whopping 67.7 percent from the same period in 2007. The system is enjoying the benefits of a 2007 debt refinancing that cut interest expense by $5 million. It also enjoyed a $6.7 million growth in investment earnings. 

The down side of this story is that if you strip away the investment income, the system actually would have posted a $12 million operating loss in the six months ended Dec. 31, which actually is worse than the $8 million operating deficit for the same six month period a year ago. The system continues to work on a turnaround that began in 2000, when Allegheny General Hospital and Western Pennsylvania Hospital merged.

To learn more about West Penn's financial picture:
- read this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece [1]

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