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PARIS (December 21) — The Henry County Medical Center Board of Trustees heard of challenges and a new surgeon during a December 21 meeting.
The audit report from LBMC, independent auditor, at Monday night’s meeting. With a recorded net income of $460,000 for FY2020, Brad Bloemer reported that changes were made to guidelines for the stimulus money that HCMC received, and the financial reports had to be adjusted, creating a loss for the FY2020 of $4.2 million.
“This adjustment does not mean that HCMC has lost these funds, it is in reserves, it will just be recognized in FY2021,” said Andrew Bissonnette from LBMC. “There is no impact to cash, just changes to rules and regulations that needed to be adjusted and reflected in the audit.”
Laura McGregor from LBMC reviewed the report with the board, discussing the differences year-over-year, highlighting fluctuations and changes within the financial reports.
“COVID-19 completely disrupted the healthcare industry this fiscal year, and HCMC was no exception,” said McGregor. “If COVID-19 hadn’t occurred, HCMC was on track to increase in revenue from the prior year.”
Overall, the organization received a clean audit review during challenging times.
Lisa Casteel, Chief Executive Officer at Henry County Medical Center, shared her administrative report with the board. She provided an update on federal and state funding of $15.2 million, with $6 million of that recognized in FY2020 and $2.8 million recognized this year. HCMC is to receive the COVID-19 vaccine the week of December 28. HCMC is allocated to receive the Moderna vaccine.
Casteel shared updated COVID-19 statistics for the state, the West District and Henry County. We have an increase of new cases over the last seven days of 15 percent. Active cases have increased to 35 percent. Our current test positivity rate is 24.5 percent. Over the last seven days, there have been three deaths. Today, we are back up to 14 cases within the hospital with a very busy Emergency Room at 25 to 30 percent positive through the ER. We have new infusion therapy medications for outpatient COVID-19 patients that are appearing to have excellent results for patients.
“Under growth, HCMC is very glad to have Dr. Phillips, General Surgeon, to begin the first of January,” said Casteel. “We are looking forward to having him join us.”
Casteel shared with the board the extension of crisis pay to clinical areas along with two retention pay programs for all staff.
“We had to do something in order to help us keep and retain staff,” said Casteel. “Everyone needs staff and we are trying to be competitive with others in the region and state. The two retention programs have allowed us to keep staff here at home and the staff are very appreciative.”
Brad Bloemer, Chief Financial Officer, reviewed the financial report for November with the board. HCMC had a consolidated income of $119,941 during the month of November, but without the stimulus funds, we would have been at a loss of $697,000 for the month. Areas that have been hit hard this month were the Surgery Center, down 50 percent and HCHC at 66 percent below budget. Though our admissions were below budget by 34 percent, HCMC’s case mix index is very high because of COVID-19.