CFO says collections improved but November showed operational loss; hospital taps $1M revolver

The Weston County Hospital District’s finance presenter said Dec. 18 that November was a low-volume month for patient visits but that revenue-cycle work produced a significant conversion of accounts receivable to cash.

Paul said the month’s packet showed a net loss for operations, but he highlighted gains in cash collection: the organization collected roughly $965,000 and reported a net increase in cash of about $310,200 after working with third-party revenue-cycle management (RCM) support. Paul credited Anova (the RCM provider) with helping reduce days-outstanding and turn AR into cash.

To smooth timing on Medicare reimbursements, Paul said the district had secured a $1,000,000 low-interest revolver that can be used to pay Medicare gap amounts while the district waits for reimbursement. He described one specific example of a Medicare gap payment and how the revolver would prevent the district from dipping into operating cash to make the payment.

Board members questioned write-off levels; Paul said approximately $18,000 in accounts receivable was written off in the period and that much of that amount represented aged items that were not billed in a timely way. Directors discussed options to reduce future self-pay aging, including a simplified fee schedule for public transparency and potential CareCredit or other credit offers for patients.

Paul also described other near-term operational moves: a review of staffing mix, identification of over-indexed salary costs in some areas and progress on cleaning up balance-sheet accounts. He said the finance committee would present a crosswalk at a future meeting showing what collections and write-offs had been achieved with the RCM engagement.

Ending: The finance committee will return with more detailed crosswalks and the board will continue oversight of AR, write-offs and options to right-size staffing.