If it\u2019s possible for a year end hospital audit to be exciting, this one was, according to Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s Board member, Jay Skutt. The Sept. 27 Board of Directors meeting heard the Auditor\u2019s Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. EPHC showed such positive financial improvements, even Auditor Jerrel Tucker of TCA Partners LLP was excited. \u201cFor a hospital this size in the middle of nowhere, that\u2019s a very good year. I was very surprised.\u201d
\n\tTucker said that he chose to compare EPHC to \u201cpeer hospitals\u201d that are \u201cthe best small hospitals in the state–to very profitable hospitals, and you\u2019re right there with them.\u201d He reported the following signs of a healthy hospital:
\n1. EPHC showed an increase in net assets of over $1.1 million in cash. This was caused, largely, by staff efforts to cut expenses, to the tune of over $900,000, and a cash reimbursement of over $400,000 for its Electronic Health Record (EHR) from the federal and state governments for meeting \u201cmeaningful use\u201d qualifications. Overall, according to EPHC Chief Financial Officer, Jeri Nelson, this combination of cutting expenses and bringing in cash meant \u201ca $1.4 million flip in the right direction.\u201d In addition, the hospital\u2019s total net assets came in at $5,127,610, which meant a 25 percent increase in this year alone.
\nMoreover, this cash increase allows the hospital to put money in savings. A cash reserve is essential in weathering economic vagaries, such as times when Medicare and Medicaid programs withhold large payments without warning, said Nelson. Now, the hospital can handle these issues without dipping into their line of credit\u2014which increases debt and interest payments.
\n2. Accounts Payable was down by $1.6 million. \u201cDo you know how much easier that is to manage?\u201d Tucker asked the Board during his Audit Report. Also, Accounts Payable days (amount of time before vendors are paid) have been cut in half from last year\u2014from 93 to 43. This, again, brings down interest payments. It also increases vendor confidence said CFO Nelson, and it ensures that vendors continue to deliver needed medicine, food, and supplies in a timely manner.
\n3. The hospital has 34 days of cash on hand. Auditors like to see at least 30 days Tucker said, so \u201cthat\u2019s very positive.\u201d
\n4. Accounts Receivable days (the amount of time before a bill is paid and money is in the bank) are down to 56, which is in keeping with the top Peer Hospitals. EPHC can thank their Business Office, said Tucker, for working hard to make sure bills are paid in such a timely manner.
\nTucker then compared EPHC to the Benchmark (auditor ideal) and the Average of the top quality Peer Hospitals. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be compared to losers,\u201d he said, adding that EPHC measured up to the best small hospitals in the state in all the key areas. His comparison not only looked at the key financial measures of hospital health discussed above, it also measured the percent of labor\/benefits and supplies as compared to net patient revenue. Again, EPHC was right with the best hospitals on these measures, at 59 percent. This, he said showed the hospital was doing a \u201cvery good job of matching staffing to revenue, which is crucial.\u201d
\nTucker also praised the hospital\u2019s financial managers for working hard to qualify for programs at the federal and state level by completing all the paperwork correctly and \u201cfollowing all the rules and regulations . . . You did a really good job of maximizing all opportunities for reimbursement.\u201d He explained that it\u2019s especially tough for hospitals that provide services in places that are small, rural, and isolated, because they \u201ccan\u2019t keep solvent on their own,\u201d and thus rely on state and federal programs (primarily Medicare and MediCal) to stay afloat.
\n \u201cAll in all, a very good year,\u201d Tucker said in summary, \u201creally positive from a financial standpoint. No red flags. You really solidified your financial position this year.\u201d
\nCFO Nelson followed with her monthly report to the Board. She said that during the previous year, when things were so tight, CEO Tom Hayes did a very good job of impressing on the staff the need to cut budgets, and staff response was positive \u201cacross the board.\u201d Now, staff will be receiving an across the board 2.5% pay increase in thanks for their efforts. \u201cWe want to show the staff our appreciation,\u201d Nelson said.
\nNelson also reported that the first two months of this fiscal year have continued the upward trend. \u201cCash this month is very good,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not getting into our line of credit, which is huge . . . this has never happened before.\u201d
\nIn his Board report, CEO Tom Hayes also thanked the staff for their efforts in causing the positive financial turnaround. \u201cIt\u2019s a real testimony to staff efforts in controlling expenses,\u201d he said. In addition, he thanked the community: \u201cWe\u2019ve worked hard to gain the community\u2019s trust, and they\u2019ve responded very positively by utilizing our services, by letting us know what we\u2019re doing right and where we need to improve. I think that\u2019s something we\u2019ve realized in these difficult economic times\u2014we need each other. And, we\u2019re stronger as a hospital and as a community for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If it\u2019s possible for a year end hospital audit to be exciting, this one was, according to Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s Board member, Jay Skutt. The Sept. 27 Board of Directors meeting heard the Auditor\u2019s Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. EPHC showed such positive financial improvements, even Auditor Jerrel Tucker of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}