Samaritan commissioners review 2018 budget

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare is projected to generate about $240 million in gross patient revenue for 2018, an increase of about 7.3 percent over the projections for 2017. That includes Samaritan Hospital inpatient and outpatient treatment, along with Samaritan Clinic.

Net revenue for 2018 was projected to be $4.2 million. Chief financial officer Alex Town reviewed the proposed 2018 budget at the regular commission meeting Nov. 14.

Town said some of the increase in revenue reflects more medical providers. Four additional medical providers (doctors, physician assistants or nurse practitioners) will be working at Samaritan for at least a year at the end of 2018. “The other factor that is impacting our revenue is the reduction of patient transfers,” he said.

Hospital officials will review billing practices to make sure the hospital is charging for all its services and supplies, Town said. The hospital will review the prices it’s charging too, Town added. “We want to make sure we’re competitive,” he said. “A lot of patients now are shopping and comparing prices, so we as an organization want to be competitive.”

However, more business means more expenses. Expenses were calculated to increase about 7.1 percent.

Salary and benefits were projected to go up, because more business means more staff. More business also means more supplies. The hospital will start doing more of its own billing, which will raise postage expenses, Town said.

The hospital will spend $4.9 million to buy new equipment, to pay for any remodeling or similar projects, known as capital expenses. The 2018 capital budget includes $1.3 million to lease new MRI equipment and remodel the space to fit. “It’s going to become increasingly important for us to be able to bring that in-house,” said chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan. Some potential patients have said they might have to go elsewhere without the upgrades, she explained.

Other projects in the capital budget include $966,944 for other equipment requests, $350,000 to lease a cardiac monitoring system and $349,999 for upgrades to the heating and cooling system.

Some items were deferred from 2017, including $286,766 for remodeling in the obstetrics unit and $244,866 for technology upgrades. About $1 million is set aside for unanticipated capital expenses during the year, Town said.

In other business, chief operating officer Kris Neff reported the hospital had reached tentative agreement with the union representing nurses. Nurses voted on the contract later in the week.

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