Hospital closes books with $3.6M in the black

That in turn puts the hospital on track with the savings and investments needed to fund the hospital's long range facility plans, Jim Ulrich, hospital president and CEO, told the board of directors.

The hospital's operating margin was 11 percent in 2008, according to Troy Bruntz, vice president finance and chief financial officer, and the margin solely related to 2008 operations would have been 6.8 percent.

The hospital continued to grow, as total revenue (all revenue less contractually adjusted amounts) increased by 13.3 percent to $31.6 million, Bruntz told the board. That came through expanded existing services, while developing other new services for the region, he said.

With those new and growing services came additional cost he said, with operating expenses growing 11 percent to $28.1 million. While hospital officials consider much of the increase to be an investment in our region's future, they also recognize that inflation in the cost of providing services also continues to play a significant role as well.

For 2008, the hospital had $42.5 million in gross patient service revenue, but $12.1 million in charity care, Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance contractual adjustments had to be subtracted from that. That left $31.6 million in total revenue and $28 million in operating expenses, for the $3.6 million in excess of revenue over expenses, counting $8,800 in foundation grants and other changes.

Much of the hospital's growth came from outpatient business, with scope room procedures, diagnostic testing and home health visits continuing the upward trends seen in recent years.

In many cases, Bruntz said, the services are growing because of the hospital's continued investment in quality training, clinical staff and medical staff.

The hospital also added outpatient services in Indianola, a sleep studies lab, new patient beds, additional speciality clinic space and continued to update surgical and diagnostic equipment. Investments grew by $1.7 million and are keeping the hospital on target to fund major changes in the facility expected to begin in spring 2010.

In other business Ulrich informed the board:

The hospital purchased a leg press for $950 for the McCook Walking Trail, which is an addition to the hospital's earlier sponsorship of the trail.

* The quarterly risk management and utilization review report showed

27 errors out of 11,210 instances of providing medication to patients, and of that number, the errors caused no harm to the patient, involving errors such as the timing of the dose.

The hospital is also showing a low rate of health care associated infections, Ulrich said. While Community Hospital, as a critical access hospital, is not affected by new regulations denying Medicare payment for treatment related to hospital-acquired infections, officials expect that the rule will be expanded.

As part of the West Central Medical Response System, Community Hospital recently received a satellite phone to keep it in touch with the outside would in the event of some type of disaster. If the hospital dials out, Ulrich said, it is immediately connected with all six hospitals that are part of the response system.

He noted that a hand surgeon had begun visiting McCook, and recruitment efforts continue for other specialties.

Ulrich also noted that Community Hospital participated in the McCook Economic Development Corp.'s housing summit, and noted that the hospital sees housing as a vital resource for our community.