Busy January, expenses under budget result in positive bottom line for VMH

by Brianne Eilers

The month of January was a busy month for Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon. Acute patient days were up 11.2% and deliveries were up 12.7%, but skilled patient days were still down some when looking at year-to-date totals. Inpatient revenue was about $150,000 over budget and outpatient revenue was about $76,000 over budget, and, as has been the case over the past several months, expenses were once again held under budget, all of these factors resulting in a bottom line of $110,912.
Year-to-date, VMH is looking at an $81,627 net income, which translates into a one-percent profit margin. Days in accounts receivable have gone up slightly to 71.1, and the hospital has $2,407,000 in cash reserves.
A public hearing was held on the proposed FY 2011/2012 budget for the hospital, and the proposed budget was approved. The hospital is budgeting for a two-percent profit margin. Previously, when putting together the budget, VMH Administrator Mike Myers explained that the hospital has used an average of three years, but since there has been such a wide fluctuation in patient census from year to year, they have cut that down to two years. “We’re trying to be as conservative as we can,” Myers said. The hospital is also looking at spending a quarter of a million dollars on capital equipment and has also set a goal of maintaining a reserve fund of $2 million.
In other matters, the OB unit update project is moving towards completion, with Myers noting, “We thought we weren’t going to be busy (in the OB), but we’ve worked around that and it’s getting close to being done.” The contract for the new elevator was awarded to Finholt Construction of Decorah. Their bid came in at $200,700, which Myers commented was higher than had been anticipated.
The Foundation will be providing half of the funding for the purchase of a new sterilizer for the operating room, and Myers noted that the hospital would need to rework its water supply system for the new sterilizer. The water will also need to be redone for the replacement of the Steris Unit, which Myers noted the public would be helping to purchase through the annual appeal.
The open house held in honor of VMH’s 60th Anniversary was “a success.” Even though it was a cold day, almost 200 people were in attendance, with plenty of reminiscing and comments about how VMH has evolved through the years.
Press Ganey scores continue to be favorable for VMH as well. After receiving the Summit Award for its emergency room scores, VMH’s inpatient scores have been in the 99th percentile for nine of the past 12 quarters. “So, we’re slowly creeping up on our target of getting the Inpatient Press Ganey as well,” Myers noted.
VMH is going to be looking at its Strategic Plan and will be working on some “forecasting” for the next three years. Part of the process is a review of the hospital’s last Baldridge report, to determine what areas are good, what has been improved upon, and what areas could still use some improvement.
In other matters, the hospital is still waiting for some electronic equipment to finish up the ICN project. The annual turn-over report data has been released, and VMH is at a five-percent turn-over rate within its staffing. The Board also looked at some of the current Press Ganey numbers, in which physician satisfaction, emergency room, and inpatient all continue to be strong areas for VMH.