Hospital ‘in the black’ for July

The Magnolia Regional Medical Center Board heard a good financial report Monday from Roxanne Stewart, chief financial officer.

Stewart reported that in-patient volume was up to 132 in July, “the highest we’ve had year to date.” Average daily census in July was 14.8 compared to 12.1 year to date. Inpatient surgeries increased from 22 to 33 in July; however, outpatient surgeries declined from 119 to 72. There was an increase to 857 in emergency room visits with a six percent admission rate.

Gross revenues were up in July to $4.3 million, Stewart said, mostly related to the inpatient increase. The hospital collects more on inpatient than on outpatient, she noted.

Net income at $77,000 was “in the black” for July. The hospital had a positive earnings before interest depreciation amoritization (EBIDA) of $262,372 .

She said in July, there were no withdrawals from the sales tax fund.

Margaret West, administrator and chief executive officer, reported on the financial recovery plan. She praised the hospital staff for saving $1.4 million in various departments from April 1 to July 31. “And that’s because we have a staff that came on board and did what we asked them to do,” she stated.

In February 2016 the hospital had an operating loss of $1.3 million, she said. In March staff meetings were held, with the goals set of reducing costs, staying within budget, and re-building cash reserves.

“We wanted to reduce our total expenses by $603,830 by the end of the fiscal year,” West said. This was accomplished by freezing the three pecent retirement match for six months, reducing travel and education, freezing three percent raises for a full year, reducing overtime by 60 percent, eliminating expensive activities, reducing supplies, and suspending all capital budget requests unless necessary for current operations. In addition, she said, consultants were brought in to develop an action plan.

Cash on hand of $425,576 in March has been increased to $895,061. “Everything that we’ve set out to do we have done in four months,” she said.

Molly Burns, board chairman, told the board that bonds sold on building the hospital have been paid off early totaling $2,780,000. “We are now saving $51,000 on interest every six months,” she said.

Dee Rogers, RN, quality liaison, updated board members on the quality report.

She said there was a decrease in error rates in the the business office. She explained these errors are caught in-house, and retraining is in progress. The incidence of falls has decreased, she said, and the means of assessment has been updated..

In discussion of the quality steering committee, West told the board “in the future as we move forward, this quality issue is going to be major in us getting reimbursement.” Teams address various issues such as re-admission, Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC), and ICD-10.

Rogers said MRMC is now part of a Southwest Arkansas coalition that reaches out to hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, and other providers in four surrounding counties.

Stewart said hospital staff are still working on a preliminary capital budget and also on a staffing pattern. West explained that some purchases postponed for 2016 were in the budget for 2017.

In other business:

•Burns reported the Hospital Foundation had purchased a piece of equipment for hospitalist Dr. Fred Murphy, which will help in diagnosing certain conditions.

•Dr. John Alexander Jr., board member, reported on the search for a new CEO. He said the committee has several good applicants, and has some ongoing interviews. He said they have done several telephone interviews and will be interviewing two applicants in person on Friday.

•The board approved re-appointments and appointments presented by Karen Weido, marketing assistant and medical staff coordinator.

•The next meeting will be Monday, Sept. 26, at 12 noon in the hospital board room.

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