Newman board approves spending, gets bad income report
By Brandy Nance (Contact)
Originally published 02:50 p.m., June 26, 2008
Updated 02:50 p.m., June 26, 2008
Newman Regional Health Board of Trustees approved more than a million dollars in capital requests during Wednesday’s board meeting. Board members also learned the hospital sustained operating losses during the month of May.
Board members approved a total of $1,161,557 in capital requests Wednesday. The biggest chunk of the money approved was for the demolition and renovation of 3 South, a patient wing. The amount approved for that project was $1,002,000. The demolition and renovation will totally gut the wing, adding new windows, 13 new private patient rooms, new nurses work station, medication preparation areas and storage areas. There also will be new telemetry monitoring equipment and upgraded finishes. The area is 5,400 square feet. Demolition is scheduled to start in July and continue through October 2009. It will be a 100 percent private-bed unit.
Other capital improvement requests included an electrosurgery energy platform for $50,970. The platform uses an electrical current to pass through tissue in order to achieve coagulation. A nuclear medicine power station was approved for $48,027. The station was purchased in 1999 and connects the department’s imaging system for processing and archiving. Another request for $60,500 was approved for a cataract phacoemulsification equipment, which treats cataracts.
In the financial summary, board members discussed operating losses for the month. Inpatient revenues came in below the budgeted amount by $354,034 because of decreased patient days and admissions. The number of inpatient surgeries was 76. The hospital budgeted for 76.
Outpatient revenues, which have typically been higher than budgeted, decreased in May and came in at $348,289 below the expected amount.
The news didn’t get any better for board members as they discussed the operating loss of $621,462 for the month, which is $486,278 below budgeted amount. Year to date loss is $376,367 with a budgeted loss of only $28,380.
Comments
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Posted by Summer_Breeze (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 4:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Seems incredibly un-businesslike to approve over $1 million in expenditures when your year-to-date operations are losing $376,367! Couldn't these improvements be postponed?
Posted by gazette_reader (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 9:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't envy the position the hospital is in. They have to modernize their facilities in order to offer Emporians quality care and keep business here. They are also obligated to provide treatment to those who can't afford it.
Posted by hottopics (anonymous) on June 26, 2008 at 10:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If they cant afford it the less fortunate get sued by the hospital. They are not given a break and have to pay the full amount. The hospital should give those un-insured write offs they do the insured.
I wish they had a program that offered assistance to those without insurance. Or if they do, I would like to know about it so I can tell the uninsured they can go to the hospital. Topeka's Stormont Vail has such a program that assists those with low incomes and no insurance.
Posted by blulitespecial (anonymous) on June 27, 2008 at 2:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In a town this size,I understand we won't have the level of care as in Topeka or Wichita.But it seems to me you don't tell a BCBS insured patient to go home 2 hrs after a stroke.The family that arrived to help the person had to hold that person up on each side to walk out.I was told they were sued for the ambulance run when ambulance runs were covered,too.No wonder our services are all in the red.If you can't work with the big insurers in the state,maybe they need to lose money and fend off lawsuits until somebody there figures it out.
Posted by justamom2 (anonymous) on June 27, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The hospital does have a program for the uninsured. In fact, they were one of the first hospitals in the state to offer such a program. You need to do your research before posting.
Posted by techycat (anonymous) on June 27, 2008 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You might take a moment to check out the hospital's website before posting bad info.
They have a form on the website that you can fill out for those that can't afford the care. they also have the financial statements on the website. it says "in december 2005 a policy that automatically provies a 20 percent discount to all uninsured patients" it also say on page 14 on the financial statemnts that "the hospital provides care to patients who meet certain criteria under its charity care policy without charge or at amounts less than established rates because the hospital does not pursue collections of amounts determined to qualify as charity care. bet this is the same as the form on the other page for those that can't afford care.
Posted by CassieJo (anonymous) on June 27, 2008 at 10:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It would be interesting to know how much money the hospital holds for "credits" for overpayments. If they are overpaid you will NOT receive a refund unless you call and ask for it.
They "credit" any overpayments to your account. Imagine how much "unclaimed" money they hold from people!
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