The Board of Trustees for Phelps County Regional Medical Center reviewed and approved Wednesday a report detailing June financial statements that depicted another record-breaking month of business at the hospital.
Hitting the No. 5 position on its “Top Ten Busiest Months” list, the hospital continued to see higher-than-expected patient volumes, said Edward Clayton, administrative director of Finance, to hospital trustees.
Hospital income from operations in June was $1.48 million and exceeded budgeted expectations by 10.3 percent. Year-to-date, hospital income from operations stood at $6.55 million, or 7.7 percent above expected income.
Total expenses for June were $14.18 million — or exceeded the budget by $444,000. Year-to-date total expenses of $86.24 million were over budget by $3.45 million.
The hospital’s cash and investments totaled $74.3 million at the end of June, which reflected a $1 million increase from the end of May’s total.
Total hospital debt stood at $54 million and saw a decrease of $219,000 from May figures.
However, Vice President and Chief Financial and Operating Officer Jerry Paule advised hospital trustees and administrators to embrace a “conservative” course of action for the 2010 capital asset plan, in consideration of the current, volatile economic climate.
Paule said administrators should adhere to “assumptions” that include incurring no new indebtedness, no new construction or purchase of any large-ticket items and not to use any long-term or investment funds for capital-asset purchases.
Other matters discussed at the PCRMC Board of Trustee’s monthly meeting included the following items:
• The Personnel Committee reported a year-to-date attrition rate of 5.9 percent through June, which reflected about a 3-percent decrease from the same period of time last year.
• Chief Information Officer David Dawdy gave a status report on the hospital’s electronic medical record-keeping capabilities.
Presently considered at a Stage 6 level for EMR, Dawdy said the advantages of the system included a reduction of paper, immediacy of record transferral, accuracy of data and the elimination of errors.
Dawdy said the advantages of EMR to the community included a 15-percent decline in mortality rates, according to a recent medical report.
