Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1998)
Grant resigns Morrow County Health District Questions and Answers from Health Editor's note The following questions submitted by the Gazette-Times, are answered by Morrow County Health District Chief Financial District Officer Dan Grant Why is the hospital losing money? The hospital, as well as the rest of the Morrow County Health District (MCHD), is in tight financial straits for the same reason most other rural hospitals and health systems are. We are seeing decreased reimbursement from our governmental payers (Medicare and Medicaid), while our operating costs continue to increase. Take Home Health for instance: 96 percent of home health patient care is Medicare. Medicare currently pays $83.73 per visit. Our cost per visit however, is $94.04 Similarly in the nursing home, Medicaid pays us $86.32 per patient per day. The cost to keep a patient is $108.61 per day. Why is this, you might ask? It would seem that both the federal government and the state government expect the private sector to make up the difference. It is not so affectionately referred to as "cost shifting". HEPPNER How much has the district had to "write o f f this year so far? 50 < imes VOL. 117 NO. 25 6 Pages Wednesday, June 24,1998 Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon Morrow County Health District hires new CEO Susan Brock Adventist Health has hired Susan Brock as Morrow County Health District and Pioneer Memorial Hospital administrator. Brock, 44, was bom and raised in College Place, near Walla Walla. She graduated from California State University at Chico with a bachelor of arts degree in community services with a major in sociology and a minor in business. She is currently working on her master's degree in public administration. Brock worked at the Portland Adventist Medical Center for 11 years and she and her husband operated an 88-bed care facility in the Portland area. Since January of 1995. Brock has worked for an independent physicians' association, representing 85 clinics in the Portland metropolitan area. In this capacity her duties included reviewing the physicians' contracts and negotiating on their behalf, negotiating the physicians' payments • with insurance companies; purchasing medical and dental coverage for the doctors and purchasing office supplies. Brock says that she is looking forward to getting closer to her family. "This area is home to me," she said. Brock's husband, Bemie Hartnell, is the director of the Home Health agency in Walla Walla. She says that he plans to update his pilot's license so that he can travel to the Heppner area more quickly, in 15 minutes to be exact. Brock plans to live in the hospital house for the time being. She has an 18-year-old son, Brock, who just graduated from high school and will be enrolling at Walla Walla College. Brock also has some ties to the Heppner area. Growing up, she was a neighbor to the Jack and Sally Angell family, who were from Heppner. Jack Angell was administrator at the hospital. Her fathers' parents lived in Pendleton, where he grew up. In addition, her grandfather came to the U.S. from Ireland and her mother was bom on St. Patrick’s Day. Brock says she is looking forward to beginning work as CEO with the district. "There are a lot of challenges I'm looking forward to," she said. "It’s too premature to come up with a plan. I don't think there will be any surprises for me here. I think we'll move forward in a very positive manner. The first line of order is getting some physicians here." "We need to be creative and continue to look for opportunities to make it work and there are plenty of opportunities here," Brock added. Car catches on fire in grocery store parking lot Dan Grant Morrow County Health District and Pioneer Memorial Hospital Chief Financial Officer Dan Grant has resigned. His last day will be July 7. Grant, 48, has been with the district as CFO since 1990 and has served as CEO after the departures of administrators Kevin Erich and Ken Schmidt. Grant says that he regrets leaving the district, but adds, "It's time for new energy and new perspective." "I really care about the district and I hate to leave," he said. "I care about the community and the people here. It's a hard thing." Grants' departure comes after difficult cutbacks for the hospital and the district which are in the midst of a financial crisis. His wife Diana's position as unit secretary at the hospital has been eliminated with the cutbacks. She previously worked in the business office, the laundry and in the kitchen. She is also an EMT. Grant said that the cutbacks and layoffs will begin at the end of the next pay period, starting July 5 and will save around $28- $30 thousand a month. He said that the cutbacks will affect 15 full-time equivalent employees, which amounts to 32 people Some employees will see a reduction in hours and three will be completely laid off. Grant said that reduced reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid and increased costs across the board helped to contribute to the financial crunch, which will be exacerbated by the resignation ot Dr. Emie Atkins. Dr. Atkins has said that he will leave the district at the end of the month following a vacation which began mid month. "Once we get fully staffed with doctors, I think the situation will improve," said Grant. Pioneer Memorial Hospital and Clinic will be staffed by physicians. Dr. Ken Wenburg, Dr. Ed Berretta, Dr. Bruce Williams, Pnneville, and Dr. John Jackson, John Day, and nurse practitioner Wendy Haack. Grant said that the district was "in the hole" $284,072 after the first 10 months of the fiscal year. He said that the cutbacks are temporary and were designed so that patient care would not be •compromised. "I'm confident that the cutbacks will stem the current trend," he said. "Small hospitals everywhere are facing difficulties." Grant said that Adventist Health Systems which provides administrative and computer services for the district, will send in someone to fill the CFO position until a permanent replacement can be found. A new CEO, Susan Brock, has been named and will be on the job July 1. Her appointment follows the resignation of Ken Schmidt, who was administrator briefly following the departure of previous CEO Kevin Erich. Through the month of April here are the numbers: Bad Debt (Individuals turned to collections) Medicare Medicaid (welfare) All Other (charity, other adjustments, etc.) $29,778 419,249 141,109 64,310 Total for first 10 months of Fiscal Year 1997-98 $654,446 Home much is Gross Patient Revenue for the same period? For the first 10 months of this fiscal year gross patient revenue was $4,046,182 How much tax revenue will the district receive this year? The district levied taxes in the amount of $544,946. It should actually receive about 96 percent of this, or $523,148. How much would a homeowner with a home worth $75,000 pay in the district? About $45.37 How bad is the financial shape of the health district? There is no doubt that the financial situation of the district is serious. For the first 10 months of the year we have lost $284,072. We have not had a losing year like this since 1988. In the next nine years however, 1989 through 1997, we had seven out of nine years with income in excess of expenses. In the majority of those years we had a full, cohesive, staff of doctors and mid-level providers. Once we can return to full staffing we will have a better chance of returning to a profitable position. Photo by Andy Sykes CLOSED FRIDAY, JUIY 3rJ an SATURDAY, JULY 4th HAPPY 4th of JULY! M orrow C o u n t y G r a in G rowers Lexington 989-8221 • 1-800-452-7396 For farm tquipm*nt. vmt our w«b sit* at WWW megg net Reverend A1 Trachsel will preach his last sermon at the United M ethodist Church in Heppner on Sunday, June 28. The Rev. Trachsel is moving to Burley, Idaho. He and his family will leave this week. The community is welcome to come to church for the service at 10:30 a m. and/or attend the re ception at 11:40 a.m. “Notes or cards would be en joyed but certainly not required," said a church spokesperson. : r *. . . • u! •-\ - • - j ; *»v .V - ’« V- » - i -A " '; * - ■ Y ' Explain the current layoffs and reductions in personnel, is this just the beginning of a hospital closure process? The district currently has a payroll of about $95,000 to meet, every two weeks. The current reductions will cut this by about $15,000 per payroll. It will not solve all of the district's problems but it will be significant. There is still a paramount need to recruit permanent providers. If this is accomplished it is reasonable to assume that the hospital will regain its financial viability. What is the breakdown of budgeted income and expenditure sources? Income Hospital Nursing Home Net Working Capital Clinics (all) Dental Taxes Home Health Loans Ambulance Services All other (from prior years) less than Expenditures Hospital Clinics (all) Ending fund bal. (carried to next year) Write-offs Nursing Home Dental Home Health Capital Purchases/Loan Repayment Ambulance Services Contingencies 35% 14% 14% 10% 9% 7% 5% 5% 1% 1% 40% 13% 12% 9% 8% 8% 4% 4% 1% 1% - -1 ' - . • • A . •. y , ■*- *• ' \ ‘c ; - “I V • * ► * *» ' -ÿ ' ,V - U-V . • A - .; . V J ” * . - - ■- : • . Questions are often asked about how much tax money goes to support each of the entities within the district. I would answer by saying that it varies year to year. Each entity is so inter-related with the others that it becomes impossible to apportion costs with any degree of reliability. For instance, the new Imgon Clinic has taken much time from administration and maintenance departments during this startup stage but later will take relatively little time. Basically, the various departments within the district are treated as children of a family would be; they each have different needs at different times and because of this interdependency it serves the entire district to approach each situation from this perspective. Even though this interdependency makes it difficult to apportion costs, it helps to spread costs e 'e r several departments and in that regard it increases efficiency. For instance, the charge nurse not only is responsible for the hospital patients, but also for the nursing home, the emergency room as well as night and weekend calls from the Boardman Clinic patients. Rev. Trachsel What services do the Adventist Health System supply? How much this cost the district? Are they worth the money the district to move to Idaho does pays? Firefighters respond to car fire in Heppner Central Red Apple grocery store parking lot Y. '. • - .V*. - ~ • . m » • * ** ■ •- ■ » ' J A * . V * f j In Fiscal Year 1997, the cost to the district for Adventist Health was $188,116.89. This includes the administrator's salary, supervision of Home Health, computer services, training opportunities and networking. Yes, they are worth the money we pay We get a million dollar computer system for $2,000 per month. This also includes a full staff of systems analysts at our disposal to call on, if needed. We are included in the buying program through their system which means when purchases are made on a larger scale, the cost is less to us. Why did the previous administrator resign? The previous administrator resigned to pursue other interests in southern California. - fry . ■ • -, *v ^ • r* ■ V . A I :.C - \ I
