Samaritan Healthcare turns profit in October

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare has enjoyed a good financial year in 2018, and that continued in October.

Chief financial officer Alex Town said the hospital had $1,008,291 in net revenue for October, and net revenue is $5,322,185 for the year to date. Town reviewed the financial report at a special hospital commission board meeting Monday.

Town said the hospital has had more general surgeries, obstetric patients, podiatry and ENT (ear, nose and throat) patients than the budget projections. Revenue from the hospital’s orthopedic services is three percent higher than 2017, Town said, although it has missed the budget target.

More doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners have contributed to an increase in revenue at Samaritan Clinic, Town said. Revenue for October was 12.3 percent over the target, and is 11.2 percent over the budget target for the year.

More business means more expenses, and expenses for October were 3.4 percent over the budget target. Expenses are 2.9 percent over the budget target for 2018. Town said a lot of the extra expense was driven by the need for temporary help as demand increased. Hospital officials have worked to hire staff to fill those jobs, he said, and the expenses connected with temporary manpower have gone down over the last three months.

More business also means more bad debt and charity care. For the year through October Samaritan had $5,735,156 in “uncompensated care.”

Town included a chart showing where Samaritan ranked among Washington hospitals of similar size when it came to average charges for overall medical care and surgery. Its overall medical care average charges were the lowest of the hospitals included. The list included hospitals in Yakima, Tri-Cities, Spokane and Seattle.

“How are we so inexpensive? How do we do that, while being a local community hospital?” asked commissioner Joe Akers.

“It has to do with the pricing, charging methodology that we’ve done in past years,” Town said. For some procedures the hospital isn’t charging for all the services and supplies it provides, he said.

That is why, he said, it’s not a good sign to be least expensive option in a comparative ranking. “Every time you provide a procedure, you use resources,” and Samaritan should be reimbursed properly for its expenses.

“One thing we know, reimbursement is not getting any better. It’s going to get worse, if anything.” In the long run, not charging for all services will threaten the hospital’s survival, Town said.

It’s better, he said, to be on the less expensive end, but not the least expensive.

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