BUSINESS NEWS Coast River Business Journal June 2021 • 3 Local hospitals fi nished last year in the black Story by Edward Stratton Coast River Business Journal CRBJ STAFF Publisher Matt Winters mwinters@crbizjournal.com Editor Emily Lindblom editor@crbizjournal.com Offi ce Coordinator Sarah Smith ssmith@eomedia.com Group Publisher Kari Borgen kborgen@dailyastorian.com Advertising Director Sarah Silver ssilver@dailyastorian.com Layout/Design Emily Lindblom | Matthew Vann NEXT ISSUE Publication Date: July 14, 2021 Advertising Deadline: July 5, 2021 CONTACT CRBJ Submit news: editor@crbizjournal.com Website: CoastRiverBusinessJournal.com Coast River Business Journal 205 Bolstad Ave. E. Suite 2, P.O. Box 427 Long Beach, WA 98631 Phone 800-643-3703 Coast River Business Journal is published the second week of every month. Opinions expressed by contributing writers and guest columnists do not necessarily refl ect the opinions of the Publisher. Letters to the Editor will be accepted, and will be printed at the discretion of the Editor. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. © Copyright 2021 Coast River Business Journal CRBJ is part of EO Media Group The coronavirus pandemic briefl y paused nonemergency procedures and most patient revenue at hospitals across the U.S. last spring. But after federal stimulus and reopening, Oregon hospitals ended 2020 with an oper- ating margin — revenue minus expenses — of 3.3 %, representing a $483 million profi t., according to statistics from the Oregon Health Authority. Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria recorded a $16 million profi t after expenses, an operating margin up two-thirds from 2019. Providence Seaside Hospital posted a $5 mil- lion operating loss, albeit from within the prof- itable Providence Health & Services s ystem. Zach Schmitt, the chief fi nancial offi cer at Columbia Memorial, described the Asto- ria hospital’s performance as a combination of stimulus and savings. The hospital received $8.4 million from the federal Provider Relief Fund to off set losses. The hospital also reduced its workforce , going from 714 employees in December 2019 to 682 as of early May . Columbia Memorial, overseen by the nonprofi t Columbia Lutheran Charities, has become among the most profi table rural hos- pitals in Oregon over the past several years . Erik Thorsen, the hosptial’s CEO, stressed the importance of smaller, independent operations staying profi table to reinvest and be ready for shocks like the pandemic. “In some ways, we have no one to turn to if things go in a diff erent direction than we want them to go,” he said. “So we have to be very diligent, vigilant with our fi nances.” Schmitt said the hospital saved through lay- off s and by holding back on professional devel- opment for employees, with many courses canceled. “We also withheld on a couple of large cap- ital projects, like the renovation of our emer- gency department, or rehab department,” Schmitt said. “Focusing on the pandemic and everything going on last year, we just didn’t have the bandwidth to be able to do some of those larger projects.” The hospital quickly shifted many patient-physician interactions online during the pandemic, which Thorsen said has emerged as a strategy moving forward. The pandemic did not stop the chemother- apy and radiation treatments at the Knight Cancer Collaborative, a partnership with Ore- gon Heath & Science University that helped increase the hospital’s net patient revenue from $112 million in 2017 to nearly $130 million in 2018. Net patient revenue grew to more than $140 million in 2020, up 6% from the year prior. Without the federal stimulus and other OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY grants, Schmitt said, the hospital’s operat- ing margin was around the 11% average from recent years. “Fortunately for us, we were able to shift focus and continue on our path and our goal that we had established several years ago,” he said. The hospital has been in expansion mode in recent years, opening the cancer center and new clinics in Astoria, Warrenton and Seaside. It has been in the planning stages of a new hos- pital expected to cost more than $100 million. Thorsen envisions paying for it through a com- bination of cash reserves, tax-exempt bonds or other low-cost fi nancing and fundraising. Providence Seaside regularly posts mod- est operating margins to signifi cant losses each year. The $5 million it lost in 2020 was a part of the $306 million operational loss the Provi- dence Health & Services s ystem reported . But the 51-hospital system took in around $957 million in federal relief, including $6.2 million for Providence Seaside. A statement from Providence Health & Services in Oregon said that federal relief helped continue opera- tions and avoid layoff s at the Seaside hospital. “Because we are part of a larger system, we were able to continue to employ all our caregivers and providers,” the statement said. “Again, this is the benefi t of being in a large health system (that) recognized the vulnerabil- ity of our caregivers as well as our community who needed services.” The New York Times reported a year ago how Providence had $12 billion in reserves when it got the government support. The health system invests the reserves and earned $1 billion from investments in 2020, down from $1.1 billion in 2019, according to trade website Fierce Healthcare. Q: What is a beneficial nematode? A: A nematode is a microscopic organism that BRIM’S Farm & Garden 34963 Hwy. 101 Business Astoria • 503-325-1562 For beautiful gardens & healthy animals www.brimsfarmngarden.com parasitizes other soil-dwelling organisms. 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