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Weston County Health Services posts small August surplus; leaders cite improved revenue and accounts-receivable cleanup
Summary
The hospital reported a net gain of $2,115 for August, better-than-budget revenues and steps to reduce accounts receivable, but staff cautioned cash collections lag and recruiting costs remain high due to travelers.
Weston County Health Services reported a positive bottom line for August, showing a net gain of $2,115 and improved revenue and expense metrics that the finance committee called a step in the right direction.
Why it matters: staff said the facility beat its budgeted loss and achieved higher-than-budget gross patient revenue, improvements the board called progress toward financial stability. At the same time, staffing and recruiting costs tied to travel nurses remain a budget pressure.
Details from the report: the hospital posted gross patient revenue of about $2.7 million versus a budgeted $2.5 million. Contractual adjustments (discounts and payer adjustments) were higher than budgeted: about $893,000 versus a budgeted $808,000. Retail pharmacy revenue was lower than budget ($421,000 actual vs. $546,000 budgeted). Total expenses for the month were roughly $2.3 million, better than budget by about $28,000.
Staff said cash collections were down for August but cash days on hand improved because daily expenses fell from roughly $99,000 to $67,000. Accounts receivable decreased by about 3.4 days; the consolidated days outstanding (gross days) were reported at 49.2 versus the recommended target of 45.
To accelerate receivables and billing, the hospital contracted with Enola (a third-party revenue-cycle partner) and completed Epic training for that vendor. Staff said Novitas Medicare enrollments (clinic Medicare billing) remain in process, and some older claims dating to November 2024 are ready to be filed once enrollment is completed. Staff identified about 140 legacy accounts totaling approximately $31,000 that will be written off and removed from receivables.
Capital and projects: the hospital is renting a modular CT scanner during replacement of the old CT; rental costs contributed to higher lease and rental expenses. Donations and other inflows tied to the CT project included small donations (one itemized at $1,700) and an out-of-cycle donation reported as $40,000; the mill levy payment for the month was $36,000. The hospital also received a United Fund payment of $3,135 and modest tax and fundraising receipts (a payroll tax refund of $67.07 and a $500 bake-sale for employee banquet).
Board discussion and next steps: finance committee members said the narrative report will be clarified next month to show clinic net income explicitly and to explain differences in AR days calculations pulled from Epic. Staff said they had opened a ticket with Epic to reconcile formula differences and expected follow-up in two to three weeks. The board asked staff to continue work on collections strategy, including separating self-pay handling from collections vendors, and to return with suggested improvements.
No formal motions were recorded on the financial report itself during the portion of the transcript provided.
