Quincy hospital reviews service

QUINCY - The necessity of Quincy Valley Medical Center having an ambulance service is under review by administrators.

Certified Public Accountant Konrad Capeller, of Wipfli CPAs and Consultants, reviewed the financial state of Quincy Valley Medical Center's ambulance service during a special meeting Thursday.

Capeller presented an "ambulance service analysis" to staff, administrators and community members.

"We wanted more definitive numbers about our ambulance services," said Chairman of the Grant County Public Hospital District 2 Board of Commissioners Anthony Gonzalez.

"It's a financial issue," says Quincy Valley Medical Center Financial Officer Dean Taplett. "Even with support the hospital receives from the City of Quincy and the fire department, the ambulance service continues to lose money."

Even with contributions slightly more than $200,000, the hospital still showed the ambulance department as losing around $253,000 during 2009 according to Taplett.

In 2008, ambulance services cost the hospital around $140,000.

"Overall revenues are dropping at the hospital and we're looking at tightening up budgets," says Taplett. "That was an area that rose to the top in a continual losing proposition."

Capeller says administrators at Quincy Valley Medical Center began talking about the financial state of the ambulance service four years ago.

Exploring the financial results of divestment only began in the last two months, according to Capeller.

"Many hospitals entertain the idea of closing the ambulance service to the community outright," he said.

Capeller explained the true costs of the department, reviewed ambulance service income losses for 2008 and 2009 and discussed the impact on the hospital if ambulance services were sold to a private company.

"We are permanently staffed with two people at facility all the time," Taplett says.

With ambulance repair bills exceeding $24,000 a year and ambulance vehicles getting older, the hospital is looking hard at other options. Taplett says the hospital is looking into hiring a national ambulance company.

"The ambulance crew, God bless them, someone needs to be here 24-7 to do what they need to do," Capeller says. "But the math problem here is 24-7," Capeller said. "That's where the tremendous loss comes in."

But simply doing away with the department isn't necessarily an instant fix.

Capeller mentioned that other hospitals he works with had raised the price of ambulance services to remedy the deficit.

Both Capeller and Taplett agree increasing the price won't do any real good for Quincy Valley Medical Center.

"Since the majority of our patients are Medicare or Medicaid they pay a set amount and it's a set amount," Taplett says. "It's not really viable in the sense of raising fees."

While no decision has been made about what to do with the department, Capeller says redistributing the ambulance department into other areas of the hospital makes the most sense.