The Emporia Gazette

February 14, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

Outpatient revenues continue to be strong at Newman Regional Health, while inpatient revenues are coming in below the budgeted estimate.

Holly French, chief financial officer at Newman, gave the financial report at Wednesday afternoon’s board of director’s meeting. French said outpatient revenues are $1,318,756 over the expected amount for the month. The hospital estimated that 198 surgical cases would be handled in October. The actual number of cases was 350. Outpatient visits were up by 1,013.

The numbers didn’t look as good for inpatient revenues. The figures came in $390,188 below the budgeted amount. According to the financial report, this was due to decreased patient days and less surgical cases than estimated.

French also said the hospital is continuing to see higher bad debt numbers. French said this is due to the higher self pay utilization and a backlog of aging accounts due to staffing issues earlier in the year.

In other business, board members approved two capital equipment purchases:

• Boiler control upgrade: The board approved $100,000 to replace components of the hospital’s boiler, which provides heat for the building and steam for the instrument sterilizers. The new equipment will be more energy efficient, according to the written request.

• Coagulation analyzer: The board approved a capital request for 2008 in the amount of $26,500. While the request will come out of the 2008 budget, the board approved the request Wednesday so possession of the equipment can be taken in January. The coagulation analyzer tests coagulation of blood when the main analyzer is unavailable during maintenance or repair. French said this equipment is needed because there is no other equipment in town to do these tests.