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.
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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%
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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
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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.
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