Samaritan financial picture positive

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Hospital finished in the black for July and is making more money for the year to date than the targets in the 2017 budget. Hospital district commissioners reviewed the monthly financial statement at the regular meeting Tuesday.

The hospital and hospital-run clinic had a net income of $345,997 in July, said chief financial officer Alex Town. Through the end of July Samaritan Healthcare has earned $2,389,320 in net income for 2017.

Net income includes what’s called non-operating income, things like investments and contributions.

Operating income (the money generated through hospital and clinic operations) was $74,358 in the black for July, and $416,159 for the year through the end of July.

The increased inpatient revenue in July was due to more obstetrics cases, he said. As of the end of July inpatient revenue was about 3.3 percent over budget. Outpatient revenue was under the budget target, Town said, due to fewer outpatient surgeries. For the year, outpatient revenue is about 1 percent under budget.

At Samaritan Clinic, revenues were under budget targets for July and 1 percent over the budget target for the year. “But if you look at the statistics, you’re actually up (in clinic visits) 8 percent for July and 5 percent for the year to date,” he said. “So that tells me it might have something to do with the way we budgeted.” The clinic is doing more business than it was in a comparable period in 2016.

Expenses were higher as well; more business requires more staff, Town said. “Salary expenses are a big chunk of why our expenses are up for the year.” In July the Mother-Baby Unit needed additional staffing, along with family medicine and the laboratory. Temporary physician and specialist help was needed in anesthesia, the emergency room and its urgent care department.

Admissions for the year to date were 9.5 percent above the budget targets, and 20.6 percent higher than the same period in 2016. Emergency room visits for the first seven months of 2017 are almost exactly the same as the same period in 2016 – one additional patient has been treated in the ER in the first seven months of 2017.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.