Hospital board receives budget numbers

Though action on the fiscal year 2018-19 budget was scheduled for the Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees’ meeting Tuesday evening, the item was removed from the agenda prior to the start of the meeting.

However, Chief Financial Officer Shelly Larson provided a quick overview of some of the budget highlights, noting it does have the framework to it and reflects information from a recent feasibility study. There is an expected increase of 12 percent in patient revenue, an increase of 16 percent in expenses and an increase of 36 percent for non-operating revenue.

The expected net surplus will be about $294,000, Larson said.

Larson also reported that the days in accounts receivable continue to increase and are currently at about 65 for April, while days cash on hand are at about 12. There is still no resolution to the change of ownership with respect to Red Rock Family Practice, Larson noted, and the hospital did not receive much of their miscellaneous receivables in April.

“May tells a different story,” Larson said, pointing out the hospital is looking at hitting about $1.8 million in collections for the month. There are some increased collections with Medicaid, she said, and in May days in accounts receivable should decrease as days cash in hand improve.

Larson further reported the submission for and receipt of SLIB funds has been completed.

Also at the meeting, information was provided from Nina Landis’ quality report. According to that report, things are progressing well for clinical informatics. Landis plans to spend May 30 and 31 in Billings at the Regional IT Users Group, making contacts to assist when the hospital has questions. Currently Landis is working with others to create a charge capture flowchart, “so we can see where the common fallouts are with charge capture, and train employees accordingly. We have started with the Emergency Room and Ambulatory departments.” She also continues to work on developing a training program for both nursing and providers, as well as multiple how-to guides for common issues.

Regarding risk management, Landis hopes to continue growing the program over the next month.

Hospital CEO Margie Molitor reported the USDA loan application has been confirmed as received. The loan, if approved, would provide more than $20 million toward the hospital’s renovation and expansion projects.