By Stephanie Johns
Staff Writer

Morgan Memorial Hospital (MMH) continued to report a loss. Net income for the month was $6,735. Their variance of $31,033 puts them above budget for August. Their net patient revenue places them at $125,000 above budget.

Chief Financial Officer Courtney Moore gave a financial update for August during a meeting of the MMH Authority board meeting last week.

The average daily census, or the average number of patients in the hospital each day, was a bit lower but this seems to be their new norm, she said. She added that the number of emergency department visits was higher than average for the month.
Salaries and wages for the month were above budget by $41,000. She said that night nurses are hard to come by and that they have to pay overt-time to fill any openings in the shifts.

Moore went on to point out that professional fees were above budget by $55,000 for the month and explained that they had experienced “a pretty big jump for outreach revenue.”

She noted that the new chemical analyzer required calibration and that coding is being outsourced. Supply costs were under budget by $36,000 due to the low census. Purchased services were above budget by $37,000, partly because of repairs to an air conditioning compressor and partly because of information systems maintenance contract fees.
Moore also shared that collections in August were not what they typically are. 

As to the Fiscal Year 2012 audit, Moore said that the deadline for completing the audit is Nov. 30 and that the auditors, Draffin & Tucker, will make a presentation to the hospital board in December.

She said that the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Survey fund will continue to dwindle based on the information they currently have. MMH serves a disproportionate number of Medicaid patients, hence the designation.

Printed in the October 4, 2012 edition.