photo by Kim Cameron
BASH – Diana Dahl, Executive Director of the Middle Park Medical Foundation (MPMF) (left), Jeff Miller, Board Chair of MPMF (center), and Robert Flake, CEO of MPMC (right), each appealed to the crowd at BASH, highlighting how the event’s proceeds will benefit the community. The BASH raised approximately $38,000 for the hospital.
Middle Park Medical Center reports profits
Two years ago, the Kremmling Memorial Hospital District (Middle Park Medical Center) was under the threat of receivership for default of their bond agreement. The hospital was able to secure a $24 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to avert this threat.
Today the hospital is reporting numbers in the black, and were able to give each employee a $600 cash bonus at the beginning of this month.
According to CEO/CFO Robert Flake in a preliminary budget report, MPMC collected $23.4 million dollars in 2016 compared to $19.1 million in 2015. This was an increase of $4.3 million in one year.
Gary Bumgarner, a hospital trustee, also emphasized that days in accounts receivable (AR) decreased considerably and was less likely to be written off as bad debt.
One of the changes Flake has implemented is returning the billing department to MPMC and no longer outsourcing it.
The billing department has also been able to provide an additional income source for MPMC by providing billing services for Leadville.
In looking at this year, $2.3 million was collected in January. This is a 28% growth over last year and is the same price points as 2016. The approved price increases did not take effect until February.
In analyzing January’s statistics, Flake said he expected the hospital’s activity to reflect the closure of Granby Ranch due to chairlift problems. “We do have an impact of Granby Ranch’s activity in our emergency room and our clinic so I thought our numbers would be lower, but the numbers were fantastic,” he said.
Flake noted that one of the most impressive statistics for January was that 38.2% of admitted patients were treated within the MPMC facility versus being transferred to another medical facility. Out of 68 patients 26 stayed at MPMC. This is in comparison to 12% last year. Also in comparison to last year there were 22 patient observation days in contrast to three in 2016; 55 acute care cases in comparison to 29, swing days were at 40 compared to 8, and 220 extended care resident days on average compared to 93 last year.
“Our ER activity was up compared to last year. Our clinic activity was up 72%… all our volume continues to rise,” said Flake. MPMC has also seen an increase in volume in general surgeries and the specialty clinics.
In February, $2.5 million was collected which was $800,000 over last year’s amounts.
