Hospital budget is adopted

Makeable, doable and ‘optimistically conservative’ are words Bill Russell, president and CEO of Three Rivers Health, used in describing the hospital’s 2010 budget adopted by the Three Rivers Health Authority Board during its December meeting Thursday morning (December 17th).

The spending plan projects net income for the next 12 months of just over $600,000 ($607,759) which would be a vast improvement over a loss of more than $3 million in 2008. A loss of around $639,000 ($639,512) is anticipated for the current year.

Steve Andrews, vice-president of finance, said the budget projects an increase of 269 in total admissions, most on the acute side with very little growth expected on the rehab side. The volume of inpatient admissions is projected to increase by 15.4 percent. Outpatient revenue is anticipated to increase by 8.2 percent for 2010 while outpatient volumes in general are expected to increase by two percent over the prior year.

Andrews said that most of the additional admissions are expected to come through a reduction of transfers to other facilities and increased admissions on the surgical side because of a new surgeon.

Several board members posed questions about the projections in view of forecasts in recent years that have missed the mark, but administrators expressed confidence that the financial bottom line in the budget can be achieved.

In a post-meeting interview, Russell said, “I think our budget is a very makeable budget. I think it’s a real reflection of what our intentions are for next year. There are some components about it that are aggressive, that are going to require us to operate more efficiently and effectively and begin to focus on our core principles of being focused on patients, people, service, quality, our financing and growth. I think if we do the things we’re looking at doing, we’ll be in great shape for 2010 and have a solid platform for 2011 and subsequent years.”

Russell said, “Last year we brought in new surgical capabilities that are still in a growth curve. I clearly expect that to continue through 2010. We have an opportunity to redress some patient flow issues in and through our emergency room – pretty solvable problems throughout our organization. We’ve got some new resources coming on board the end of the month/the first of next year that are going to help us with some of our structural issues so . . . I’m pretty comfortable that our forecast is very doable.”

In addition to adopting the budget, the board approved a four percent increase in rates for 2010 and budgeted capital expenditures for the upcoming year totaling slightly more than $1 million. The two largest items are in the medical imaging department – $260,000 for digital mammography and $234,000 for nuclear medicine equipment.