Samaritan Healthcare turns profit through July

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare made a profit in July, which improved the hospital’s bottom line for the year. The hospital made $361,025 in net income in July, and has $2,863,171 in net income for the first seven months of 2018.

Operating income for July was $139,236, and operating income for 2018 is $1,297,593.

“There are things you’re going to see that you’ve seen (previously), common themes happening,” said chief financial officer Alex Town.

Total inpatient revenue is 5.1 percent higher than the target in the 2018 budget. (Inpatients are patients who stay in the hospital overnight or longer.) Inpatient surgery cases are about 23 percent higher than the same period in 2017, and obstetrics admissions are about 36 percent higher than through July 2017.

Outpatient revenues are close to budget targets, thanks to an increase in outpatient surgery cases. Revenues at Samaritan Clinic were 8 percent above the budget projections for July and are 12.6 percent above budget for the year.

The hospital wrote off $484,807 in bad debt and charity care in July. Through the first seven months Samaritan has written off $3,420,279 in bad debt and charity care, Town said, and the projection is about $5.8 million by the end of the year. “We’ll probably exceed $6 (million) before this year is over.”

More business brings with it more expenses. For the first seven months of 2018 the hospital is about 2.1 percent above budget for its expenses. Town said that was due in part to the need for temporary manpower, mostly temporary nurses to take care of additional patients. More patients also meant more temporary doctors. Samaritan has purchased a new MRI, but it hasn’t been installed and the hospital is still renting a machine as a result.

But while expenses are higher than budget projections, so is revenue, Town said, and revenue is up 4.1 percent over budget targets.

Revenue for diagnostic imaging is about 10 percent below budget but, Town said, the budget target probably was too aggressive. The hospital also missed its target for issuing bills, a statistic called “accounts receivable days.” That’s getting closer to the target, Town said.

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