Telemedicine coming to Samaritan Healthcare

MOSES LAKE - Samaritan Healthcare will be adding some telemedicine services in 2014.

Telemedicine involves consulting physicians working with the hospital, local doctors and patients via video conference and computers. Dr. Jim Irwin, the hospital's chief medical officer, told the hospital's board of commissioners that a service for potential stroke patients may be up and running by March.

The hospital also is looking at using some telemedicine services in the emergency room, Chief Executive Officer Tom Thompson said. A possible startup date for that hasn't been determined.

In other business at the regular meeting this week, board members passed a resolution of appreciation for retiring board member Katherine Christian, whose term expires at the end of the year but who didn't file for reelection. She had been on the board since 2003.

The resolution moved Christian to tears, and she said she plans to keep working on hospital projects. "I will definitely still be involved," she said.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Legel reported the hospital's gross revenues at the end of November are about $4.3 million above budget targets, and the hospital made more money than during the same period in 2012.

Legel said the hospital's payer mix has changed, with about 32 percent of patient reimbursement from private insurance, about 26 percent from Medicare and about 23 percent from Medicaid. One of the results is that contractual allowances, which is the difference between what the hospital charges and what it's actually paid, has dropped, Legel said.

The hospital is making enough money that it is showing a net profit without including tax revenue or investment income, Legel said. In addition, in 2009 the hospital had more accounts payable than cash on hand at the same time, but in 2013 that has been reversed.

Patient days (the days all patients spend in the hospital) are up, and so are outpatient days, he said. Samaritan Clinic administrator Kevin Dustin reported that patient usage of the clinic also has increased in 2013, by about 7 percent.

Both inpatient and outpatient usage are higher than they were at the same time in 2012, Legel said.

Dale Paris was selected as board president, and Alan White as board secretary, replacing Tom Frick and Julie Weisenberg. The changes are effective in January.

The board approved a "strategy map" for 2014. Thompson explained the map to an audience that included the board of Columbia Basin Hospital.

The idea behind the planning that went into the strategy map is to identify where the hospital needs to go and how it gets there, Thompson said. "Focus, and focus on the right things."

The goal is to improve patient care, contain costs and promote better health throughout the entire community, Thompson said. How those goals are reached will be an evolving process, subject to quarterly reviews, he said.