Although Greenwood Leflore Hospital lost another million dollars in September, its chief executive officer was encouraged by the progress it had made in reducing expenses.
“We’ve really driven our costs down rather well in a one-month time period,” Jason Studley said Tuesday after the release of the monthly financial reports at the hospital board’s meeting.
The hospital posted a nearly $1.2 million loss last month, down from a $1.9 million loss in August.
Revenues were up $515,000, or 6.4%, compared to the month before, while expenses were down $241,000, or 2.4%.
Comparisons to September 2020, when the hospital posted a loss of $1.7 million, are not as valid, since the 2020 figures include adjustments made after the annual audit, while the numbers for the 2021 fiscal year will not be audited until next month.
The hospital is showing this year a loss of $14.4 million, even after using $11.1 million in coronavirus relief grants, mostly from the federal government.
The previous fiscal year, when $13.6 million in relief funding was used, there was a net loss of $2.5 million, following end-of-year adjustments.
The steady decline in the hospital’s cash reserves, which has drawn the concern of some elected officials and hospital board members, continued. About $3.7 million was depleted in September. Chief Financial Officer Dawne Holmes, however, pointed out to the hospital board that the Oct. 1 payroll had been posted to the balance sheet on Sept. 30, making three payrolls deducted from the cash balance that month. Each hospital payroll runs about $1.8 million.
The hospital ended its budget year with almost $24.5 million in cash reserves, less than half of what it had at the start.
The current reserves include $13.5 million in the form of advanced Medicare payments that the hospital received in the early stages of the pandemic last year. That cushion, though, is a loan, which the hospital is paying back through deductions in its monthly reimbursements from the government insurance program. Those reimbursements are currently averaging about $500,000 a month, and they are scheduled to double in April.
The hospital administration has been implementing a turnaround plan designed to reduce costs while enhancing revenues. Although Studley said he is pleased with some of the initial results, he again emphasized that it will take time for all of the measures to kick in.
“It’s still a 24-month plan on a go-forward basis to get full implementation into place,” he said.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
