Samaritan financial picture improving

MOSES LAKE — After a couple of financially challenging years, Samaritan Healthcare’s fiscal picture seems to be improving. Chief Executive Officer Alex Town, reviewing the financial results for March, said the hospital generated a net income gain of about $1.2 million for the first three months of the year.

“For us, in my opinion, (the March financial report) sets the tone that we are finally hitting the curve and heading in the right direction,” he said.

Town went over the results for the first quarter of 2023 at the regular commission meeting April 25.

Samaritan, like other hospitals across the state, was required to suspend some of its services during the COVID-19 pandemic; some services were suspended multiple times.

Expenses increased at the same time revenues were declining. Part of that was the inflation affecting the U.S. economy as a whole, according to hospital officials, and part was the effect of a tight labor market for healthcare workers. Town said in January that overall expenses for 2022 were about $4.9 million over the 2022 budget projection. Due to the tight labor market, the hospital spent about $10.9 million for temporary employees in 2022, about 230% over the budget projection.

Temporary employee costs are decreasing as permanent employees are hired, but it’s a slow process, Town said. He cited the hospital laboratory services as an example.

“(Department directors) have replacements, but they will not arrive until this fall,” he said.

For the first three months of 2023, Samaritan spent about $2.98 million for temporary employees, about 25% more than the budget projection.

Total expenses for the first three months of 2023 were about $12.15 million, 5% below the budget projection.

The revenue from inpatient surgical services is lower than projected, Town said, because there are fewer inpatient surgeries than projected. The decrease is affecting most surgical procedures slightly, he said, and is not concentrated in one area.

Inpatient medical admissions, people who stay in the hospital overnight or longer, also were below budget projections for the first quarter. People who were admitted were staying longer, though. Town said that reflects hospital officials' difficulty finding other facilities to transfer some patients.

Obstetrics admissions were higher than budget projections in the first quarter of 2023, he said. The number of emergency room visits also was higher than projected, and so was business at the two Samaritan Clinics. Town said the clinics saw an increase in total visits, not necessarily favoring one department over another.

Samaritan provided about $1.89 million in bad debt and charity care in the first three months of the year, which was below the budget projection.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.