Samaritan finances for 2016 announced in February

MOSES LAKE — Information on the year-end financial status of Samaritan Healthcare for 2016 won’t be available until sometime in February. The current bottom line will be affected by reviews and adjustments – good and bad – of public reimbursement programs.

Finances were discussed during the regular commission meeting Tuesday.

“We always hold the financial statements open late at the end of the fiscal year so we can approve all the invoices we can,” said interim chief financial officer Paul Ishizuka. In addition, the hospital has about 16 outstanding accounts, all of them in six figures, with three different public reimbursement programs, Ishizuka said.

The open accounts date back to 2009 and 2010 in some cases, depending on the agency. Chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan said the hospital had done its part of the work, but the federal and state programs work to their own timeline. “We aren’t alone in those situations,” she said.

While they're waiting for any adjustments, hospital officials make an estimate, “plus and minus, especially minus, and we record that in our financial statements,” Ishizuka said.

The process is “somewhat analogous to the IRS auditing you,” he said. In one case, the program started in about 2010 and this is the first year the program has been reviewed.

Hospital officials make an estimate for the costs and reimbursement. Officials for the programs review the information and eventually decide on a settlement. Then the hospital gets a check or a bill, depending on the decision.

Ishizuka said the biggest outstanding check is about $700,000, and the biggest outstanding bill is about $400,000, if there are no changes.

While some accounts are still being settled, other budget numbers are known. Ishizuka said the hospital won’t meet its budget target in its obstetrics department. Births in December were lower than projected, and were already lower than projected for the year due to very few births in March.

For 2017, “we’ve got to get to get after the top line revenue,” looking for ways to enhance revenue. In addition, hospital officials plan to work to meet both revenue and expense projections in the hospital’s budget. In the future the hospital will need to consider costs regularly, he said.

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