PMC Audit Gets Clean Bill of Health
frontdesk | Apr 28, 2011 | Comments 0
Prowers Medical Center’s net assets gained almost 27% over 2009 and 2010, according to an annual independent audit. The findings were presented to the PMC board April 27, during the monthly director’s meeting. Net assets increased $1,398,536, or 12.5% for 2010 and $1,410,095, or 14.4% in 2009. Operating income in 2010 was $478,698 and $627,991 for 2009. However, that was a decrease for each of those two years. Some of that decrease had been attributable to a decline in births at the hospital, and surgeries were down 341 from 2009. Patient days had also decreased significantly in 2010 compared to 2009.
There was a moderate increase in salaries and wages between 2009 and 2010, from $9,227,407 to $9,397,517 respectively, and a decrease in employee benefits from $2,020,769 to $1,850,414 in that same time period. The hospital will conduct an employee salary evaluation when total figures are available, sometime this summer. PMC had a healthy gain in cash and cash equivalents, end-of-year, increasing from $2,111,237 in 2009 to $2,893,767 in 2010. Charity care provided by the hospital for the two year period totaled $4,579,134. The overall general assessment from the auditing firm representative was good: debt is down and revenue is up.
Randy Nightengale, chief financial officer, presented current figures showing March net income was $266,293 and the month had been budgeted at $62,324. Current expenses for March were $1,960,405 while they had been budgeted at $2,153,847. Cash at month-end was $4,178,015, a $47,484 increase from the previous month.
Camp and Currell Construction in Lamar was the lower bidder at $70,100, for remodeling the hospital’s current x-ray suite. James Fairchild, PMC chief executive officer told the board, the wiring system for the room needs upgrading and the room needs to be remodeled to accommodate the new x-ray unit, purchased for $645,000. The board voted to advertise for bids for a permanent MRI service at PMC which will operate seven days a week. The current mobile unit is in Lamar Saturday and Sunday only. The board estimates a long-range savings as the mobile unit charges $280 per scan. The permanent unit will charge $300 for the first 50 scans and $200 thereafter. PMC had a permanent MRI unit several years ago, but became cost-prohibitive, paying $31,000 per month on a lease basis. The new agreement will be for three years, with the two remaining years on an annual renewable option.
Fairchild and Nurse Director Maxine Montano discussed current and future social health issues with the board. Montano cited statistics from a recent Presidential Report on the growing trend of prescription drug abuse in the country. She said the number of users has increased by 48% since 2000, and a third of youngsters 12 and older since 2009 had been users of non-medical prescription drugs from the home. CEO Fairchild cited teen pregnancy statistics for Prowers County from the recent state health survey showing the county has the second highest numbers in the state. He felt the hospital needs to develop a program to deal with the problem, and had been in contact with Jackie Brown, Public Health Director for Prowers County. Fairchild said it may take a year to secure the needed $160,000 in funding from the Colorado Health Foundation to start, and he’s also seeking federal financing for contraceptive medication.
The hospital is awaiting several new medical providers including Dr. Jennifer Chiu who will join the staff pending her application for a Colorado medical license; Dr. Camillo Franklyn, also practicing in internal medicine, is expected to start in September, Family Nurse Practitioner Sharon Hendricks’ first day in practice will be June 20 and Dr. George Gustafson, cardiologist, will increase his monthly visits to four, from the current three. The annual PMC health fair will run May 10 through May 12 from 7am to 11am each day.
Filed Under: Business • community • Economy • Health • Lamar
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