By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Massena Memorial Hospital lost nearly $400,000 in August and for the second month in a row, MMH officials attributed the the shortfall to their self-insured employee health plan. The August loss is despite patient numbers over budget and above the same month last year.

According to a financial and statistical summary made public at the Monday Board of Managers meeting, the hospital is in the red $674,462 year-to-date.

“We had some one-time expenses that sort of generated that,” MMH CFO Patrick Facteau told the board, adding that there is an “issue this year from our self-insured program.”

Massena Memorial pays the bills when their employees need healthcare, MMH CEO Robert Wolleben said. Year-to-date, that has cost $300,000 more than last year, nearly half of their overall financial loss through last month. They budget the insurance payments based on last year’s figures, the CEO said.

“What’s happened this year is we’ve had several employees … who have been admitted to the hospital for protracted periods of time for complex problems and their bills were significantly higher,” Wolleben said.

During July’s board meeting, Facteau announced a $119,000 loss for June he said was driven by employee health costs.

“It’s a self-insured plan. We had some large claims. That’s all we can say about it,” Facteau said at the July 24 Board of Managers meeting.

In addition to the health insurance expenses, the hospital has paid about $100,000 in physician recruitment fees, a move which officials at the Monday meeting said costs money now but will pay off in the long run.

During his CEO’s report, Wolleben said one of the new physicians, Dr. Henri Gaboriau, has a unique set of specialties he believes will draw more patients to MMH. Gaboriau, in addition to performing surgeries, he specializes in moles, facial plastic surgery, dermatology, acne treatment and allergies.

“We are cautiously optimistic that Dr. Gaboriau being on board” and other recruitments will “drive these numbers up,” Wolleben told the board, adding that they are also looking at recruiting orthopedists over the next couple of years.

The year-to-date loss comes at a time when patient numbers are mostly above budget and higher than the same point last year.

In July, MMH discharged 211 inpatients and budgeted for 165. In July 2016, they discharged 184. Year-to-date, MMH has discharged 1,383 inpatients, above the budgeted 1,322 and 1,261 through the same point last year, the financial and statistical summary said.

Outpatient registrations in July totaled 10,650, above the budgeted 9,182 and the 9,333 in July 2016. Year-to-date, outpatient registrations are at 71,326, above the budgeted 69,669 and the 68,415 through the same time last year, according to the summary. The report shows that clinic visits in July were up 78 percent over budget, with 3,971 patients treated, significantly over the 2,225.