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Massena Memorial Hospital finances improving, but margins remain weak

Posted 7/21/15

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- Although Massena Memorial Hospital’s financial picture continues to improve, MMH officials said on Monday they are concerned that their razor-thin profit margins aren’t …

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Massena Memorial Hospital finances improving, but margins remain weak

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Although Massena Memorial Hospital’s financial picture continues to improve, MMH officials said on Monday they are concerned that their razor-thin profit margins aren’t enough to solve their problems.

“I must continue to point out that we will not survive on $80,000 profit on a monthly basis … there’s a lot of big bills coming down the road in the second half of the year,” said Board of Managers member Gary Borgorsz, who also chairs the finance committee.

Financial and statistical reports say the hospital gained $81,000 in June and $49,000 in May.

This comes on the heels of millions of dollars in losses annually, with some months showing close to a half million dollars in the red.

“A long term gain of $81,000 isn’t where we need to go … we need to continue to build margins and go forward,” said MMH Chief Financial Officer Charles Gijanto. “We had a decent month, not a great month, but we are in positive territory.”

He said the Affordable Care Act had a two-fold effect on their June profits.
“Affordable Care Act is forcing people into Medicaid-managed care … more people have insurance, it’s just not good insurance,” he said.

Gijanto pointed out that it helps because it means fewer people are paying out of pocket, but the reimbursement rates are low.

Alongside that, the CFO noted that their books show their accounts receivable have gone down by nearly $1 million and their inpatient volume was higher than anticipated. “It’s the first time we’ve had a down month in over a year,” Gijanto said of the accounts receivable offset. “It’s too early to call it a trend, certainly we feel with the systems going into place we are on the right path.”

MMH appears to be in much better shape than a year ago.

The financial and statistical summary shows that in June of last year, the hospital bled $125,880, compared to last month’s $81,000 gain.

Year-to-date as of June 30, 2014, MMH’s books showed a $2,149,000 loss. Year-to-date in 2015 they are still in the red, but to the tune of $140,672.

“As we look at our performance in 2015 and perform it to our performance in 2014, we are about $2 million better overall,” Borgosz said. “We continue to tread water, continue to hold our own.”