Veterans Memorial Hospital wraps up calendar year with "minor profit"

by Brianne Eilers

Veterans Memorial  Hospital (VMH) in Waukon saw a "minor profit" of $5,545 for the month of December 2013, compared to a profit of $25,256 in December 2012, according to a report from the hospital's January Board of Trustees meeting. Year-to-date, VMH has a profit of $104,477, compared to last year-to-date's profit of almost $200,000.
According to VMH Administrator Mike Myers, this is significant because VMH is going to be working on its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Both acute patient days and skilled patient days are about the same as where they were last year-to-date and deliveries are up 4.8% over last year-to-date. However, there are some outpatient areas that are down from last year-to-date.
Myers noted that volumes appear to be staying at the same levels, and that is what the hospital staff will be basing its assumptions on in the upcoming budget planning, in addition to the two-percent sequestration cut and other pending cuts in funding at the Federal level. "It will be an interesting budgeting period for us," Myers noted.
Overall, inpatient revenue for December 2013 was slightly above budget, by 0.1%, and outpatient revenue was under budget by 4.3%. Total operating revenue came in at 3.4% under budget, and expenses were also under budget by 2.9%.
Myers noted that even though the hospital hasn't been overly busy, the cash flow is good, and he explained that cash reserves would soon be over $3 million. Myers also pointed out that the days in Accounts Receivable are coming down. Currently, they are at 73.1, whereas they were at 80 days or more for a while.
"There's been some very hard work by all involved in the process to get that back down, so their efforts are appreciated," Myers said. He also noted that the month of January is not looking to be a very good month financially.

The hospital has started the process of looking at Electronic Medical Records, which Myers said will be a process that would take a while as the hospital administration and staff evaluate the programs to see if they will meet a need at the hospital and if the programs will help improve processes, such as administering medication, discharge and admission of patients, etc. "We are going to take our time and make sure we are doing the right thing," Myers noted.
Many of the remodeling and repair projects have wrapped up or will be finished soon. The roof over the foyer is done, as well as the patient room remodeling project. The CT room has also been remodeled, and that project is getting close to completion. "It looks beautiful," Myers noted.
Thursday, January 30, VMH held training on what to do in the case of an active shooter being in the building, in conjunction with the clinics. Myers noted that the drill coincides with the hospital going to "plain text" instead of coding. "Instead of saying we have a code silver on the intercom, you'll hear them say 'there's a shooter in the building'." He noted that schools have undergone the same training, and the exercise was also done in conjunction with the police department.
VMH is again participating in the Live Healthy Iowa Program by sponsoring employee teams. "We feel that the return on investment has paid off through insurance renewals, and as we've done our yearly wellness screening we've shown improvement in many of the categories. I think this is just another avenue to promote wellness within the organization, as we promote it out in the community as well," Myers said.
The hospital administration and staff have also undertaken the strategic planning process, and have brought in a facilitator to help with that. Myers noted that the timeline of the process has changed over the years, with a few years ago planned for seven years out, then five years out, and now it's down to planning three years out.
He explained that the facilitator will help them put a plan together with key concepts and using concerns from staff members, providers and give some leadership going forward. Myers noted that "things can turn on a dime in Washington and we have to be able to respond with a plan that we feel gives us some direction."
The hospital is also looking at how to expand the need for health education in the community, such as who to partner with and what to focus on, and strategic planning will give VMH a framework to begin conversations with those groups or individuals.
Board of Trustees Officers were also re-appointed at the meeting. Dennis Lyons will be the chairperson, Dave Stangeland will serve as vice-chair, and Patty Fosaaen as secretary.