FEBRUARY 21, 2025|
Photo – A page from net income report submitted by MHCC – Courtesy Carbon County Commissioners
The Carbon County commissioners, this week, grilled the leadership team of Memorial Hospital about the facility’s ongoing financial troubles.
The hospital in Rawlins has struggled financially for years. The rising cost of medical care combined with slow and decreasing federal reimbursements has caused the hospital to lose millions of dollars.
At Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Interim Memorial Hospital Chief Financial Officer Will Grant updated the board on the hospital’s financial health. Grant said that the hospital brought in approximately $4.4 million less than the previous fiscal year. Grant blamed the lack of a general surgeon, to perform surgery at the facility, for the revenue shortfall.
With the addition of General Surgeon Dr. Chet Singleton to the team last month, Interim CFO Grant said he hopes the hospital’s finances will begin to turn around.
Grant continued updating the commissioners on his financial report, saying that Memorial Hospital receives less than half of the reimbursements it requests through billing.
Interim CFO Grant explained that actual hospital’s expenses have been reduced by a small amount over the last fiscal year. With revenues decreasing and revenue staying at about the same level, Grant said hospital administrators were forced to lay off 14 employees.
Director of Revenue Cycle Felicia Kimbal was hired roughly eight months ago to straighten up the hospital’s billing department. Kimbal informed the county commissioners that data entry errors had been occurring far too often. Since taking over the department, Kimbal said she’s reduced the number of clerical errors by half.
Another initiative created by Kimbal was an improved online patient payment portal. The Director of Revenue Cycle said payments have increased from $20,000 a month to $86,000. Kimbal said she has put together a team specifically to dispute insurance claim denials and fight for the revenue.
Commissioner Sue Jones told Interim CFO Grant that his report, which consists of simple bar graphs, failed to explain the reasons behind the hospital’s poor financial condition. Commissioner Jones laid the blame on Ovation Healthcare, the hospital’s management consulting firm.
Commissioner Jones also said the hospital must attract more patients. Years of inaccuracies within Memorial Hospital’s billing department have driven away customers. Jones, who owns a trash collection business in the Platte Valley, said she understands the importance of customer service.
Because of its millions of dollars of accumulated debt, Memorial Hospital has been unable to pay vendors for needed medical supplies. Commissioner Jones said the hospital must begin making money to stay in business.
Interim CFO Will Grant said the hospital would be in better financial shape if the county contributed more money toward the operation of the facility. Currently, Memorial Hospital receives $150,000 a year from the county strictly for building maintenance.
Grant also attributed the facility’s financial hardships to the difficulty of collecting payment for services provided to patients.
Commissioner Jones said she disagreed with Grant’s explanations for the poor financial condition of the hospital. For Memorial Hospital to start earning money, it must attract more patients, Jones said.
Commissioner John Espy said in the past, Memorial Hospital was suffering because of a faulty billing system. After fixing the problem, the facility was able to accumulate millions of dollars in reserve cash. Commissioner Espy said those same billing problems appear to have returned.
Commissioner Espy said people can go to competing medical facilities and not have to worry about receiving an inaccurate bill.
Commissioner John Johnson said despite Memorial Hospital’s billing issues, staff still provide excellent care.
Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees Vice President Mark Kostovny admitted that the medical facility’s board of directors is partially at fault for the state of the hospital. Kostovny said the previous Chief Executive Officer, Rex Walk, and his Chief Financial Officers, did not provide the board of trustees with accurate financial information.
Kostovny said the facility must hire an effective management company. However, the Board of County Commissioners must approve of the management company.
In December of 2018, the commissioners did not allow the hospital to renew its contract with Ovation Healthcare, citing concerns about the quality of service the company provided. Instead, the board of trustees brought on the healthcare management firm as a consultant, limiting its ability to effectively manage the hospital.
Instead of pointing fingers at one another, Kostovny suggested creating a committee made up of the board of trustees, county commissioners, and members of the public. The committee would be tasked with finding an effective healthcare management company that the board of trustees and county commissioners can agree will improve the economic future of Memorial Hospital.
The Board of County Commissioners agreed that forming a committee to find a management company may be the right decision. However, the commissioners warned that the Memorial Hospital board of trustees and administrators must not continue making the same mistakes. Instead, the Rawlins hospital should focus on the specific medical services needed here in Carbon County.
