LOCK HAVEN — With the cooperation between local, state and federal officials, Bucktail Medical Center was able to ensure it met payroll this week.
Commissioner Angela Harding brought up the topic during the board’s voting session on Thursday.
“I wanted to mention a lot of hard work is going on behind the scenes,” she said, specifically noting BMC has received assistance from Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, state Senator Cris Dush, State Representative Stephanie Borowicz and Senator Bob Casey, among other local officials.
“We have all been working diligently to improve the situation at Bucktail Medical Center,” Harding said. “I just want to publicly acknowledge our elected officials and legislators that have been spending countless hours trying to find a solution and sustainability for Bucktail Medical Center.”
Board Chair Miles Kessinger said the medical center “got right down to the wire” this week to ensure payroll was kept for this week.
“It got right down to the wire yesterday, but with everyone working together they were able to make payroll this week and get some padding in their budget,” Kessinger said.
This was due, in part, to officials pushing for reimbursements and receivables, he said.
“Through the legislative offices putting pressure on those other medical organizations that were paying Bucktail Medical Center, they got some of their bill paid and their receivables done,” he said. “They’ll be able to keep their doors open for the time being.”
Bucktail Medical Center CEO Tim Reeves sounded the alarm on the facility’s growing financial woes in August when he sent out a multi-page letter to local officials and legislatures looking for assistance.
Reeves sent out the letter after the facility had to dip into its reserve funding in each of its accounts that encompass general checking, payroll, capital campaign and donation accounts.
In August, Reeves noted payroll every two weeks is roughly $135,000 with taxes and other payroll expenses adding another $58,000.
That cost, he said, doesn’t cover physicians who are 1099 employees, utilities, insurance, mortgage, medication or supplies.
Due to insurers not paying the facility properly, Reeves at the time said the facility was losing about $150,000 per month.
“One insurer, knowing that our cost for a specific type of inpatient care we provide is about $6,700 per day, is willing to pay only $1,500 per day for that service,” he said in the letter.
He said another insurer wants to be reimbursed $81,000 for a service the center provided, and was paid for, “claiming they did not get the proper documentation.”
In the letter, Reeves gave a breakdown on how the center is working to better its services and the facility for the Western Clinton County community. This includes:
— Re-established our ambulance service.
— Entered into a two-year lease agreement with MXR imaging for a CT Scanner, due in September. We strongly believe these two strategies are imperative for increased patient volumes, which is the key to viability for the facility.
— Secured a $1,000,000 USDA Emergency Rural Healthcare grant for several necessary projects, including major infrastructure work needed to progress with the Master Plan. This infrastructure work includes:
— Replace leaking roof over the hospital wing of the facility and replace leaking roof over the services wing of the facility.
— Repair four hospital rooms that have been unusable due to water damage from the roof leak. Necessary demolition is complete. New drywall, ceilings, and floors will be completed when the roof has been replaced.
— Replace leaking water piping in the domestic hot water system.
— Replace two 43-year-old gas boilers that provide heat for much of the facility. This project has been awarded and is scheduled to start once the boilers are onsite. The lead time for the boilers could be many months.
— Purchase a new ambulance. We took delivery of the ambulance earlier this month and are working to get it equipped, supplied and inspected for service.
— Purchase a portable X-Ray. The unit is here and in service.
— Purchase a new cardiac monitor. The unit is here and operational.
— The facility has also taken measures to improve the financial performance of the facility.
— Directly hired physicians, rather than using an agency, to control costs and so we can collect both the facility fee and the professional fee while charging more reasonable rates to our patients.
— Nearly eliminated agency nurses and other allied health professionals and improved employee retention by bringing all wages in the facility to a competitive level.
— Brought a second provider into our community clinic to increase patient volumes and to provide more options for our patients.
— Increased our charge master (what we charge for each service) however, insurance companies will only recognize increases of 1 percent to 2 percent per year regardless of your actual cost.
— Renegotiating reimbursement contracts with insurers.
“The list goes on,” Reeves said. “The point is, we’ve taken an active approach to understand how best to meet the medical needs of the communities we serve and to increase patient volumes. We’ve taken action to reduce costs and to increase revenue.”