STARKVILLE — OCH Regional Medical Center CEO Jim Jackson believes the hospital is close to shifting its goals.
“We’re kind of getting to the point, like everybody else, that it’s time to return our attention from surviving back to growing,” he said Tuesday evening at a joint meeting with county supervisors and the hospital’s board of trustees.
The hospital has been a topic of interest among supervisors since the new board came together in January. A majority of supervisors have said they are open to consider a lease or sale of the facility, and they requested the joint meeting for an update on the hospital’s finances.
The hospital has lost $5.6 million over the last two years, and Jackson said during his presentation that over the last five years, the hospital’s net loss is about $177,000.
In 2019, the hospital saw a loss of $894,000, followed by profits of $1.7 million in 2020 and $4.6 million in 2021 aided by federal COVID relief money that stopped coming by Fiscal Year 2022.
However, the hospital has posted a profit of $5.4 million through the first four months of the current fiscal year through January 31. About $3.9 million of that is from a Mississippi Hospital Access Program (MHAP) payment approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The payment program, which Gov. Tate Reeves rolled out last fall, will give the hospital $13 million through the summer.
But even without those funds, Jackson said the hospital was still profitable by $1.5 million, as compared to a loss of $650,000 from the same period last year.
Cash reserves stand at $25 million, up from $19.5 million last year. Jackson also attributed this increase to the MHAP payment.
OCH’s inpatient utilization is down, though, with 1,822 admitted inpatients last year, compared to 2,058 in 2022. Jackson attributed the decrease partially due to the hospital losing a pulmonologist that drove inpatient utilization. Outpatient registrations grew slightly, from 38,360 in 2022 to 38,792 last fiscal year.
Staffing is a top concern, Jackson said. OCH has a nursing vacancy rate of 24%, up from 13% in 2022. Part-time workers are also increasing, he said, because the work schedule is more flexible and hourly rates are higher because part-time workers do not receive benefits.
He said the recent financial picture allows for some “breathing room” to explore how OCH can remain competitive in the labor market.
“I hear the buzz about staffing, staffing, staffing,” he said. “… We’re constantly trying to find high-quality staff and that’s not going to change.”
Mixed reception
District 1 Supervisor Ben Carver asked Jackson several questions following the presentation and told The Dispatch afterward he wanted to look into the numbers more, such as the hospital’s cash reserves over the last decade.
He said he is still unsure whether the county should be in the hospital business.
“I think health care is a very volatile market,” he said. “You’re coming out of an extremely volatile time with COVID, and if I was getting into the hospital business, I probably wouldn’t do it. I don’t know that it’s good to be in an industry that’s volatile with taxpayer money. But again, there’s a lot of things the government provides that necessarily aren’t profitable in nature.”
District 3 Supervisor and Board President Marvell Howard said his impression was “positive” but, like Carver and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams, he hopes to get more information.
“At this particular time, I’m just going to sort of digest what I’ve received today. I’m sure I’ll have a couple other questions,” Howard said.
District 4 Pattie Little told The Dispatch Wednesday that while the numbers are better than she expected, she would like to dig into patient care more.
“With me, it’s not all about the numbers. It’s about patient care,” she said. “It’s about the people getting the right care that they need here.”
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, who attended the meeting by phone, has been vocal about his desire to explore privatizing OCH. He told The Dispatch that Tuesday’s session did little to change his mind.
“Even if the financial status gets better, I think that does put us at a better advantage because you have something that’s a little bit more marketable that can help you to be a little bit more attractive,” he said.
Supervisors and trustees agreed to schedule another meeting to delve more deeply into the hospital’s finances, though a date was not immediately set.
Kevin Edwards is news editor and reports on Starkville and Oktibbeha County government.
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