Samaritan Hospital posts $2.3 million loss in first half of year as it pays off new building

MOSES LAKE — The cost of paying for a new building is having an effect on the bottom line at Samaritan Healthcare, but hospital utilization is starting to increase.  

Samaritan recorded a loss of about $2.3 million for the first six months of 2026 as the district works on paying off the costs associated with construction. The new hospital opened in March.  

Interim Chief Financial Officer Darryl Wole said more patients are starting to come to the hospital, although utilization is still below budget projections 

“We’re getting closer to the budgeted numbers, which, as we've talked about the last few months, is what we've expected. As we move through the year, we kind of get a little bit closer to our expectations,” Wolfe said. 

While the hospital is still in debt for the year, it finished June with a net income of about $401,000, which Wolfe said was above the budget target. 

More people were being admitted to the hospital in June, driven in part by an increase in obstetrics patients, Wolfe said. There was also an increase at the use of hospital diagnostic services and patients treated and going home the same day, which all fall under the umbrella of outpatient services. 

“It is the highest (outpatient) revenue of the year so far," Wolfe said. "We haven't seen the volumes materialize yet in surgical services, but we are seeing increases in diagnostic imaging and laboratory services. There are areas where we're doing a little better than expected, but you see in surgical services, those volumes aren't quite there yet. They are growing and they’re not bad, but they're just not exactly what we thought they would be for the budget.” 

Wolfe said the number of surgical cases is ahead of the same time in 2025. 

But with more patients comes more expenses, and Wolfe said that while expenses are below the budget projections for the year, they’re increasing month over month. 

“We do get busier; we use more supplies. We use more staff,” Wolfe said. 

Samaritan is still hiring a lot of temporary staff, although the need is decreasing.  

“With the new hospital, the move-in, and all those things, we did have a lot of extra staff help us through that through that period," Wolfe said, "and we continue to use a fair amount of contracted labor as well. We're working on that." 

The biggest contributors to temporary staff needs are the obstetrics unit and Samaritan’s information technology department, he said.  

“That’s a big project right now for Samaritan – we're really trying to stabilize that group and bring in new IT leadership,” he said. “Right now, we do have a fair amount of contractors on our team.” 

The need to hire temporary travelling nurses is decreasing as Samaritan hires permanent staff, but Wolfe said the market has changed. 

“I used to panic when we had one or two travelers 10 years ago, when I was a CFO somewhere else," he said. "It's just a part of life now – I don't think we'll ever go to zero. I'd like to think there's a place that could happen, and maybe it will. But I think just the workforce has shifted and changed quite a bit, and I think people just don't stay places forever anymore.” 

Chief Human Resources Officer Steven Brooks said nationwide trends contribute to the shortages. 

“For mother-baby for example – that's still one of the higher need ones," he said. "They're the most in demand, so you'll be paying about double what you would for your own professionals, and some of the other areas it's about one and a half times what you pay your own professionals. We're seeing some relief, and specialties like med-surge and ICU rates have come down considerably since the pandemic, but mother-baby still seems to be in really high demand.” 

    A demonstration of one of the new da Vinci Robotic Surgical Systems at Samaritan Hospital, which opened its new building in March, allowing hospital officials to expand its surgery department.