Multiple factors figure in to month of December loss for Veterans Memorial Hospital

by Brianne Eilers

The month of December ended on a dismal note, financially, for Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon, with the hospital showing a loss of $107,987 for the month and year-to-date a loss of $263,605. VMH Administrator Mike Myers explained that there are several factors that lead to the loss of profits.
“Acute (patient care) days are down, deliveries are down, skilled days are down, and surgeries are down. All the ambulatory things are up, and our expenses are within 0.6% of budget. So, it’s really a revenue-driven thing,” he stated. Myers added that the last few days of January have been pretty busy at the hospital, with the beds being full or nearly full.
Myers also pointed out that the hospital will be starting the budgeting process soon for the next fiscal year. He noted that, historically, VMH looks at the two or three years previous to the year they are budgeting for to see what the trends are.
Myers said that during the past two years, VMH has shown trends of decreases of utilization on the inpatient side of things. “The struggle is to put together a budget that will reflect the current reality, but we’re working on it,” he said. On a more positive note, the number of days in Accounts Receivable is down to 80.9 and VMH currently has cash reserves of over $2 million.
Myers also noted that IPERS liability is now factored into the hospital’s bottom line and what has happened with the stock market this year could also add to any loss.
VMH again qualified for the Meaningful Use money available from the U.S. Government for computer systems. Myers noted that this is the final year that those funds would be available and that VMH still does not know the amount to be received.
He said they are anticipating making the transition from RazorInsights to AthenaHealth for the hospital’s electronic medical records sometime around May of this year, and he estimates the transition will take about eight weeks. Myers also noted that AthenaHealth has recently picked up a larger university/medical center as a client, so it looks like they are gaining momentum with their product. “We’re excited to see what it does for us,” Myers said.
VMH is still working on getting physician coverage to assist with emergency room staff. Myers said Emergency Practice Associates, the company VMH has partnered with for staffing the Emergency Room, has been working on this issue and has credentialed a few new physicians. “We’ve used them and people liked them, and we thought they did well,” Myers said.
Looking at the Medicaid Managed Care situation, Myers noted that it is supposed to be going into effect now in March. Myers said that the hospital has received its first contact from one of the Medicaid Managed Care Companies regarding a contract.
Dr. Thomas McMullan was appointed as the hospital's Chief of Staff, with Dr. Steven Perkins appointed Vice-Chief and Dr. Ben Ross appointed medical staff secretary. Board member Dennis Lyons was appointed chair of the VMH Board of Trustees, with Kevin Hanson being vice-chair and Patty Nordheim appointed secretary.
The Board also heard updates from the hospital’s leadership regarding some of the things that have been accomplished at VMH the past year. “It’s good for the Board to hear from them and it lets our leadership people know that the Board is interested in what they are doing,” Myers noted.