Greenwood Leflore Hospital made a more than $3 million profit in its latest fiscal year and continues to be in strong financial shape, its CEO says.
Jim Jackson said the hospital reinvests that money to keep its facilities and technology up to date and attract physicians and staff with the goal of providing good care to patients. He credited the hospital board for its leadership.
The comments come after the hospital’s owners, the city of Greenwood and Leflore County, announced their intentions to consider selling the hospital. The City Council and Board of Supervisors voted last week to hire an appraiser to determine how much it’s worth.
The 208-bed licensed facility is the county’s largest employer and has enjoyed a financial rebirth in the past decade. But there’s much uncertainty about federal health care reform, and local officials have said other Mississippi communities have sold their public medical facilities. They’ve mentioned using proceeds from the sale to create a fund for attracting new industry.
Jackson said it’s the owners’ prerogative to investigate the value of hospital, and he said it’s probably a prudent business practice to periodically look at your options.
“I think everyone is sort of assuming it will ultimately lead to a sale, but I think right now they are just investigating,” he said.
Jackson also addressed comments by City Council President Ronnie Stevenson that the hospital is “losing money every month,” and using reserve funds to keep operating.
Jackson said it’s true that the hospital has lost roughly $100,000 each of the past three months. However, he said that’s normal for this time of year and has not necessitated dipping into reserves. Jackson attributed the losses to less flu cases because of a mild winter and a continuing trend of delaying elective surgeries due to the tough economy. He said other hospitals have experienced the same thing.
The losses are small compared to the cost of running the hospital; it takes about $330,000 per day to operate it. The hospital has enough cash on hand to operate for 120 days, Jackson said. That equals out to about $40 million in reserves.
Jackson said he expects the hospital to close the year with a profit. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011, GLH made a $3.3 million bottom line, Jackson said.
Jackson has been CEO since the hospital board fired his predecessor, Jerry Adams, in September 2009. Jackson was previously chief financial officer, including six years under Adams. Many physicians credited Adams with leading a large turnaround after he arrived at the then-troubled hospital in 2003.
Jackson ran through a long list of successes, including spending $35.5 million over the last five years on capital projects.
Those include:
• $10.5 million in current physical plant renovations. For the most part equipment was from the original 1952 construction, Jackson said.
• $13.5 million to upgrade information technology systems, including redoing the hospital’s wireless network, which serves as the backbone for other electronic systems like bedside computing for nurses and document imaging for the hospital and its 18 clinics.
• $2 million on a radiology information system.
• New medical equipment such as digital mammograms, surgery equipment and anesthesia monitors.
Once the physical plant projects are complete, Jackson said the hospital is considering a four- or five-story medical office building to consolidate all services. That would be about a $10 million investment, he said.
Jackson said the hospital has had no layoffs in a number of years and has added about 30 staff members over the past two years. It has 880 full-time employees and 199 part-timers. There are 125 employees who work for Aramark, which contracts with the hospital for food, maintenance and other similar services.
It has added medical services, including the After Hours and Walk In clinics, and added physicians, including a new gastrointestinal doctor, ear, nose and throat specialist and obstetrician/gynecologist.
The hospital has minimal debt, Jackson said, about $9 million. All of the debt is on capital leases, he said.
“All of the reserves and income we’re able to generate, we use those funds and reinvest it. … And we do that in order to provide this community with as high level and quality care as we can provide. And if that means attracting physicians, attracting the best staff, purchasing the latest in technology, that’s what our profits are reinvested in,” he said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at 581-7235 or csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
