Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Financial Statements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hospital reports March financials: revenue shortfall, operating loss and signs of recovery after Cerner go-live
Summary
Hospital finance staff reported a net operating loss in March, a year-to-date revenue shortfall, but positive cash flow driven by Metro contributions and early recovery in collections after a Cerner electronic health-record go-live.
Hospital finance staff presented March financial statements showing a monthly net loss, a year-to-date revenue shortfall and improving cash collections after an electronic health-record (Cerner) go-live earlier in the year.
Finance presenters said total revenue for the month was about $22.5 million and that revenues were roughly $5.7 million below budget year-to-date. The presenters reported a net loss for the month of about $1.4 million and said operating margins remain negative despite early signs of improvement from cost-reduction steps initiated 45 days earlier.
Patient volumes were mixed: inpatient admissions fell from 296 in February to about 232 in March (the presenters noted February has 28 days vs. 31 in March), average length of stay was approximately 4.0 days (budget 3.9), emergency-department volume was 2,252 for the month (below a budgeted 2,335), and outpatient clinic volumes were reported as 4,645 with year-to-date clinic visits 26% above budget.
Staff and contract labor trends were discussed: salary expense for the month was about $5.56 million (roughly $473,000 over budget) while contract labor decreased materially from the prior month, a change partially attributed to accrual reversals.
On cash and liquidity, presenters said overall cash increased by about $3.4 million during the month; the cash position at the end of March was approximately $5.6 million. The increase reflected Metro subsidies/contributed capital plus improved collections.
Revenue-cycle staff reported $4.9 million collected in March and said unbilled accounts were down to about 1.75 days. Presenters attributed earlier denials and collection delays to a temporary removal of the hospital’s “safety net” status in the profile of a payer (Centene/Ambetter); staff said claims will be reprocessed and the issue caused an interim $400,000 increase in denials.
Board members asked for confirmation of submitted capital requests and visibility into how prior capital allocations were spent; staff agreed to provide a historical capital-allocation and spending report at a future meeting.
Ending: Finance staff will return with supporting documentation on capital requests and continued monthly updates on collections and operating results.
