Hospital highlights - More on patients and revenue

Several community members have spoken with me about the article on the front page of the last week’s Gazette entitled, “Drop in Patient Visits Hits Hospital’s Revenue.” Many have told me that they were surprised by the news. I’ve responded by saying the article was accurate and then expanded on some of the information. I’d like to do that for you now.

In the past, many people thought hospitals were recession proof. Everyone assumed that people use health services when they need them and people get sick regardless of the economy so they will continue to seek care. That has been largely true in previous recessions. But this one has been different. The impact has been severe enough to change the way people seek healthcare. Hospitals across the nation are seeing fewer patients seeking care. WHMC is no different. This is due to the large numbers of unemployed and underemployed.

Many people have lost their insurance or can no longer afford it. The Census Bureau estimates 17% of Americans, 50.7 million, went without health insurance in 2009. That’s up 9.5% from 2008. Washington and Whitman County are better off than most of the country at 14% and 10% uninsured respectively for 2008. It is a safe bet that these numbers are worse today.

At WHMC, we have felt the impact especially among those with private insurance. Those covered by government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid continue to use our services. These dynamics have affected our revenue and we are running a deficit for the year as of now.

We are doing many things to deal with this situation. We scrutinize every purchase and contract. We are re-engineering our billing process to ensure we are paid everything we are owed. We have not had to reduce staff but we are flexing staff hours to best match patient volume.

I want to emphasize that WHMC remains financially viable. The hospital has been profitable for many years and has cash reserves to weather the storm. Some health reform initiatives became effective in September which will help some people afford care. Patient volumes for September and October are up and running more normal. If this continues through the remainder of the year the hospital should break-even.

David E. Womack, CEO

Whitman Hospital and Medical Center