Slower patient volumes at VMH lead to April financial loss; Year-to-date still looks strong

by Brianne Eilers

The month of April was not as busy of a month for Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon. The hospital saw a decrease in numbers in the areas of skilled patient days, acute patient days and deliveries. “Last month was kind of high in everything, and April was kind of a low,” noted VMH administrator Mike Myers.
Some areas were up, however, including surgeries, lab and cardiac therapy. For the month of April, VMH ended up showing a loss of $67,053. Year-to-date, the hospital is showing a net income of $334,515 and a profit margin of 2.7%. Myers also noted that last year at this time, the hospital was showing a bottom line of $221,602. “That’s better than last year. May started out slow, but has been busier,” Myers added. VMH has cash reserves close to $2.5 million. The number of days in accounts receivable is also coming down, at 72.1.
To sum up the month, Myers had this to say, “To lose $67,000 and still have a 2.7% profit margin, it’s a pretty good deal.” He explained that all of VMH’s “revenue-producing departments” are all producing a positive profit margin.

Myers also summarized his recent trip to Washington, D.C. for the American Hospital Association. He explained that from the time elections happen this fall to the end of the year, there will be a lot of bills coming due in the House and Senate. “They’ve got billions and billions of dollars to deal with at a time when they need to reduce the deficit,” Myers said.
One topic that was mentioned during the American Hospital Association conference was the President’s budget and proposed changes to critical access hospitals. In the association, there is a fear that cuts will end up changing rural health care drastically. Myers noted that while rural health care is a topic that hasn’t been “touched” in a while, there are fears that if too much is cut from rural health care, rural areas will become an underserved population. “A lot of hospitals won’t be able to survive in the rural setting, and a lot of physicians, if you cut their pay, are less likely to come to rural (areas),” Myers said.
Myers said the biggest thing they took out of that discussion is that rural health care facilities need to keep an eye on what lawmakers will do. Myers and Drs. Schwartz and Nesseim also met with Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin to discuss their concerns with what could happen to rural medicine. Myers also said that if a new President is elected, they could put a temporary hold on everything, as far as rural health care.
VMH also celebrated Hospital Week, Nurses Week and EMS recognition. “It was fitting to celebrate the teamwork and difference these people make and being part of the community,” Myers said.
VMH is also working to finalize plans for an update to be done to the nurse’s station and patient care rooms. He noted that it’s been 10 years since the patient care rooms have been updated. They are also working on the capital budget, and are trying to build something into the budget to compensate for the impact of the one percent cut in Medicare.