The Magnolia Regional Medical Center Board of Commissioners heard and approved a presentation Monday from BKD CPAs and Advisors of Little Rock on the final 2015 audit report. Derek R. Pierce, CPA, presented the report.
Pierce said preliminary results were presented at the January meeting, but since then the pension and cost report items have been finalized. He said an unmodified opinion was issued on the audit. “Unmodified is the type of opinion that you want,” he said. “It means we had no reservations about whether the financial statements were materially accurate.”
Pierce called the intern/resident program “an area of concern” on the cost reports. He said BKD is working to make sure the hospital is getting all the reimbursements it should, and to strategize how to get the foundation of the program in better shape.
This partnership is between MRMC and UAMS, Pierce said, and goals were to “primarily improve the healthcare of the area by not only having more doctors here training but also to kind of build a pipeline of younger physicians who might be more willing to practice here once they got through with their training.”
There were two agreements executed in July 2013 that codified how this arrangement would work. There were nine residents in the program, rotating through three years of training. UAMS pays their salary and benefits, and MRMC reimburses UAMS for those fees. One of the key benefits from the hospital’s perspective, Pierce explained, is that Medicare and Medicaid reimburse hospitals for the cost of training those physicians.
In the financial report, Roxanne Stewart, chief financial officer, told the board that inpatient admissions were down for June. However, there were 141 surgical procedures, and 37 babies born in June.
Stewart illustrated June receipts by payor mix: Medicare, 42 percent; Medicaid, 11 percent; Blue Cross, 20 percent; commercial, 18 percent; and private pay, 9 percent. She said inpatient revenues were 47 percent, with 32 percent for outpatient revenues in June.
For June, the hospital had a positive earnings before interest depreciation amoritization (EBIDA) of $103,416 and a net loss of $92,000. The year-to-date EBIDA was a negative $486,616.
She said the hospital continues to work on the revenue cycle. A revenue integrity team has been established and meets weekly. A managed fee schedule for up-front collections has been implemented. Areas being looked at are possibly outsourcing collections, continuing to automate the business office, and a ChargeMaster review.
Margaret West, chief executive officer/administrator, updated the board on the financial recovery plan update. She said from October to March there was a loss of $1.3 million. She attributed this mainly to patient census being down from the previous year. Budget cuts totaling $603,830 were put into the recovery plan. She said hospital staff had worked and in three months had accomplished a total savings of $487,027. In addition, a freeze had been placed on capital budget expenditures.
Steve Nipper, board vice-chairman, reported on the search committee’s efforts toward finding a new CEO. He said the committee had met July 6 and reviewed six applications, and met July 22 and reviewed three more resumes. Several potential candidates will be brought forward, and the committee is scheduled to meet July 29 and possibly do some telephone interviews.
Board members discussed some revisions to the hospital’s bylaws.
West noted the hospital has received the last of the Medicare and Medicaid incentive monies, but said from this point forward the hospital was in good shape. She said from 2012-2016, MRMC has received a total of $4,097,843.
“Had we not moved forward when we did, gone through all the details of meaningful use, meeting those attestations and receiving that money, we would be one of those hospitals that would now be getting money taken away from them.” That would be up to seven percent of Medicare and with sequestration would be nine percent of every Medicare dollar that hospitals would be losing, she explained. West commended the hospital staff for their dedication and work to implement these goals.
In other business:
•A strategic planning session will be at 3 p.m. Aug. 15 at the LifeSmart Building.
•The next meeting will be at 12 noon Aug. 22 at the hospital board room.
•Medical staff reports were approved as presented by Karen Weido, medical staff coordinator.
•Molly Burns, Hospital Foundation president, announced there would be a party and tour of Jan and Therral Story’s home on Dec. 10.