Quincy hospital commission approves 2025 budget

QUINCY — Both revenue and expenses are projected to increase for the Quincy Valley Medical Center in 2025. Medical center commissioners approved the 2025 budget at a special meeting Wednesday. 

Net revenue for 2025 is projected to be about 13.48 million, up from an estimated $11.93 million in 2024. Expenses are projected to be about $19.64 million, an increase from 2024 when expenses were projected at $16.92 million.  

When other net revenue and expenses are added up, QVMC is projected to end the year with a carryover of about $275,400.  

Both increased revenues and expenses reflect the move to a new hospital, under construction next to the existing QVMC. It’s scheduled to open in mid-2025. 

Glenda Bishop, QVMC chief executive officer, wrote that commissioners asked about the allocation for maintenance in the existing building, since it will close in June.  

“We will be operating in the existing facility for at least five months of the year, and we need to have budgeted dollars for any necessary repairs,” Bishop wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “The dollars in that particular category were based on annualized numbers from 2024.” 

Accountant Christina Marroquin said at the preliminary budget hearing Oct. 28 that the new hospital will offer more services, which requires more staff. 

“The expenses are mostly going up due to salary and benefits increases,” Marroquin said. “We will be having more workers that we’ll need to staff. So this is in anticipation of that. (New employees) may not all come in at the same time, but that’s what we’re looking at. There are a lot of positions that we’re going to have to fill in the new building.” 

Construction of the new hospital is scheduled for completion by spring 2025. Hospital officials will be required to obtain operating permits from state agencies and provide some training for hospital staff in the new facility. 

Project Manager Joe Kunkel said in an earlier interview that hospital staff will have to learn new techniques, new technology and how to operate new equipment. But they’ll also have to relearn things they already know. 

People know the location of equipment and supplies in the existing building, he said, and can find what they need without thinking about it when they’re responding to an emergency situation. But a new building means the setup might be different, and in some cases will be different. The training is designed to reduce the time spent searching for what is needed. 

Bishop cited the example of the acute care department, which is for patients who must stay overnight or longer. In the new hospital, it will be on the second floor; that’s different because the existing QVMC doesn’t have a second floor. 

“How will we address nurse staffing on a second floor, when you don’t just have an acute care nurse who’s looking down the hall and (checking) call lights?” Bishop said. 

The budget reflects both the expenses and possible opportunities of moving into a new facility, she said, although hospital district officials took a conservative approach to estimating possible revenue. 

“(The budget process) is particularly complex this year, because of the new building and some of the (ways) we’re trying to be forward-thinking,” she said. 

Board member Anthony Gonzalez said Oct. 28 that QVMC has been required to hire additional nursing staff to meet new requirements enacted by the Washington Legislature in 2023. That adds to operating expenses in the existing hospital as well as the new building.  

“That was not helpful,” Gonzalez said.  

Glenda Bishop, QVMC chief executive officer said the hospital hired six additional nurses in 2024 to meet the staffing requirements.