Samaritan Healthcare finishes 2016 in the black

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare finished 2016 in the black, but will have to pay some money back to the federal government, the result of cost reviews from previous years. Hospital district commissioners received a report on the final 2016 numbers during the monthly commission meeting Tuesday.

“What you have after 12 months, is we had really strong admissions,” said interim chief financial officer Paul Ishizuka. Admissions for the year were 6 percent over the budget target, he said, even though some departments missed their individual targets.

The obstetrics department didn’t reach budget projections, and the hospital had fewer OB cases than 2015. Business at Samaritan Clinic was below budget as well, “and there were some other outpatient services that didn’t quite hit up at the level of the inpatient services.”

But “we had really strong medical and surgical admissions,” Ishizuka said. “We had good strong emergency department visits and surgical cases.”

For the year the adjusted discharges were 2.4 percent above budget, he said. Adjusted discharges “are our single best indicator of volume. It’s just one indicator, but if we had to pick one, that would be our best.”

Adjusted discharges take into account revenues, expenses and volume, Ishizuka said, which is why they’re a good reflection of net revenue. (Net revenue is what’s left after all the expenses are paid.) For 2016 net revenue was 1.8 percent over budget projections, he said.

Expenses were over budget as well, he said, by about 1 percent. Higher expenses are to be expected when volume is higher, he said.

However, the hospital is still waiting to hear from federal regulators on costs that will be allowed – or rejected – on some federal programs from previous years, he said. “It’s going to be a good-sized adjustment (payment),” but the final figure is still to be determined. But “we’re still going to have operating income above target.”

For January the hospital was above budget target in terms of operating income and net income, he said. “That’s a good start.”

But “I have zero enthusiasm for a single month operating statement at the beginning of the year. There isn’t a lot to talk about. One month is one month.”

In other business, board members approved a bonus for all employees. The hospital hit most of its patient safety and community involvement targets, and employees received bonuses for all targets reached.