QVMC examines 2025 prelim budget

QUINCY — Quincy Valley Medical Center is projected to finish 2025 with a carryover of about $275,400, according to the 2025 preliminary budget reviewed by QVMC commissioners Monday. Both expenses and net revenues are projected to increase in 2025 as QVMC moves into a new facility. 

Net revenue for 2025 was projected at $13.48 million, an increase from 2024, when net revenue was projected at $11.93 million. Expenses for 2025 are projected at $19.64 million, up from $16.92 million in 2024.   

“The expenses are mostly going up due to salary and benefits increases,” QVMC Accountant Christina 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.” 

Board member Anthony Gonzalez said the QVMC has been required to hire additional nursing staff to meet new requirements enacted by the Washington Legislature in 2023. 

“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. 

Construction of the new QVMC is projected to be completed in spring 2025, with the hospital opening for patients by early summer. Hospital officials will be required to obtain the necessary permits and do some training in the new building before it opens to patients.  

Bishop said the budget also reflects both the expenses and the possible opportunities of moving into a new facility.  

“(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. 

She cited the acute care department as an example. In the new QVMC, it’ll be on the second floor, which is a change because the existing QVMC doesn’t have a second floor. 

“This is just a tiny example, but we have a second floor. How will be 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) the call lights?” she said. “Little things that we (want) to get ahead of, that we know won’t impact the budget until move-in, but making sure we’ve got seven months of that accounted for in the budget.”  

The new facility will allow existing services to expand and other services to be added, Bishop said. Hospital officials have some estimates of what QVMC can expect to earn, Bishop said, but don’t want to count on estimates. 

“We wanted to take the conservative path on additional revenue from expanded services or new services,” she said. 

Hospital officials thought caution was warranted when looking at possible revenue projections, she said. 

“We’re not going to live in the land of the possible. I’d rather live in the land of conservative and probable,” Bishop said. 

Quincy Valley Medical Center is a public hospital district and receives tax money from its operating levy. Bishop said the district’s estimated assessed valuation won’t be available until November, so tax revenue for 2025 wasn’t adjusted in the preliminary budget. District officials do anticipate levying the maximum 1% tax increase allowed by state law, she said. 

Joe Kunkel, construction project manager, said the project is on schedule and within the existing $55.6 million budget. Kayla van Lieshout of the Klosh Group, which is overseeing the project, said flooring and the last coats of paint are being installed in some sections.  

“We’re really getting into the finish work, the painting, and it’s looking like a real building in there,” van Lieshout said. 

QVMC 2025 preliminary budget 

Net revenue: $13.48 million 

Other income and expenses: 6.43 million 

Expenses: $19.63 million 

Net income: $275,455