During the Hospital Commission’s Aug. 18 meeting, Chair Sandy Martin spent time to fact check statements made previously by members of city council. The topics covered, she explained, would also be explained in a document provided to aldermen for the joint workshop later in the week.
Martin went over funds received during the COVID pandemic, which under the advice of Forvis, the accounting firm performing the annual audit at ESH, have been carried as a liability until such time that the money can no longer be requested back by the federal government. Martin explained the conditions that the hospital would trigger repayment including receiving of taxpayer dollars (which the hospital does not) and a time-frame condition of four years that the hospital passed in April.
Martin also covered a separate checking account that the commission has kept that has been used as a reserve to pay bills that previous management companies had failed to pay. She said that it was created in 2018, reported in hospital financials until Dec. 31, 2022, and then CFO Bill Couch decided not to include it in financials as he said he believed at the time no one could accept access the account.
Martin said that commission has access to the account, which has $16,901.01 and it is “still intended for hospital operations and expenses.” She explained the history of charges and deposits. She also showed a print-off of the checkbook charges saying that she found the charges “extraordinarily legitimate” and offered for any commissioners to look at it.
In response to statements about the hospital operating at an average $366,226 loss Martin showed diagrams that showed that at most the hospital losses in 2025 were $273,000 and noted that May, June, and July had been profitable months for the hospital.
Martin also said that the hospital had performed a mid-year budget review and with the hospital only having a few months of conversion to Rural Emergency Hospital designation that the commission had decided to track actuals for the year and continue cost-saving measures as well as wait until the CEO was in place to hear her direction on revenue generating opportunities.
She continued that with unknowns on Medicare and Medicaid that “I defy anyone to sit down and say they can project anything,” and that the budget would remain fluid. She finished her comments saying the commission may decide starting in October to spend time every meeting performing budget review.
The commission discussed the IT expenses earlier in the year, noting it was an abnormal situation that had been anticipated in past years.
In reports, Martin read the CEO report by Tiffany Means with Means saying that she has met with team leads and is reviewing outpatient clinic and current contracts. The report also said the hospital is actively recruiting jobs on its website and has replaced some contract employees with PRNs.
In the CFO report, Cynthia Asbury said that July had been down 9 percent compared to June, though said that some timing of invoices and claims being processed were part of that dip. She said that July had a good volume of patient visits with a profit of $87,000. She also said that the Forvis audit had been wrapped up, and the commission decided to receive the audit on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. with a special meeting.