Controller Yvonne Gennrich reported to the North Shore Hospital Board on November 17, 2011 that the hospital made a profit of $156,741 in October. For the year so far, it has garnered $226,770 in excess revenue, some of it due to expenses being lower than expected. This is pretty good, especially when a year-to-date loss of $574,567 had been projected for the end of October. Some numbers have still not come in, so this number could change.
With the hospital moving into a slower season the last two months of the year, the excess revenue may dwindle. “I’m hopeful that we can hold onto a little bit of the profit that we’ve seen,” Gennrich said. She thought the facility was likely to break even at the end of the year.
The amount of money sitting in the hospital’s bank accounts has increased, but less is sitting in certificates of deposit (CDs) because the hospital is actually making more interest in its regular accounts than it would in CDs. “Pretty depressing,” said Gennrich.
The facility has moved four of its swing beds into the care center now that the care center has downsized its licensed capacity from 47 to 37. This will decrease the amount of financial loss on the care center side as well as allow the hospital to more finely tune a patient’s care to his or her needs.
Because of differences in Medicare reimbursement for the hospital and Medicare reimbursement for the care center (and the fact that insurance and private pay charges are related to Medicare reimbursement rates), enlarging the hospital’s square footage into the care center will maximize the hospital’s reimbursement.
Whether a swing bed patient goes into the hospital or the care center side will be based on his or her needs. Someone needing two weeks of IV care would be likely to be on the hospital side, but someone with dementia or needing three people to lift him or her would be better off on the care center side, and someone in a swing bed for a longer period of time might be more likely to take advantage of care center activities if he or she were in the care center. Swing beds in the care center will also afford patients single rooms.
“Overall, I feel like it’s a positive outcome for the patient,” said nurse Jeanette Lindgren.
Controller Gennrich said she thinks the hospital/care center would be able to get to a break even point next year with an $800,000 levy. The board had set a maximum levy amount of $1.2 million. “We don’t want to go to that $1.2 million,” said Gennrich. The 2011 levy was $800,000. Master facility plan
When the hospital and nursing care facility were remodeled 15 years ago, the plan was meant to be workable for 15-20 years, and that time is coming to an end, Administrator Kimber Wraalstad told the board. It’s time to look at facility needs for the next 15-20 years, she said.
The board made a motion to retain DSGW Architects of Duluth to help create a plan for the future. Architect Rebecca Lewis, who was involved in the last remodeling, toured the facility in October and sent a proposal for planning services afterward at a cost of $20,800. In it, she stated, “Since your last major project was 15 years ago, it is a very appropriate time to look at the facility and make sure we are well positioned for the next 15 years, make corrective plans for things that don’t work well, and provide some structure to the vision you and your board have for the hospital.”
Administrator Wraalstad said she has been discussing this plan with Sawtooth Mountain Clinic Director Rita Plourde since the clinic is housed in the same complex.
The hospital currently has $4.6 million in capital reserves. Advocacy
Administrator Wraalstad talked about advocacy efforts being made on behalf of rural hospitals in light of pressure to reduce the federal deficit that could affect critical access hospital designation and the funding that comes with it. No hospital in Minnesota is further from another facility than North Shore Hospital, she told the board.
St. Luke’s Hospital President John Strange said that some hospitals that haven’t needed the designation as much as North Shore Hospital have taken advantage of the rules allowing them to be called rural access hospitals – such as building near a state line or just barely outside the 20-mile limit when other hospitals are nearby. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to close critical access hospitals, he said.
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