Samaritan sees 2023 operating loss

Mar. 5—MOSES LAKE — According to a preliminary review, Samaritan Healthcare finished 2023 with an operating loss of about $2.86 million.

Chief Administrative Officer Alex Town said the year-end report prepared by Samaritan's financial department must be reviewed by an outside auditor before it's submitted to the state.

"These are pre-audited numbers. Our hope is that there are minor (and) little to no adjustments when the auditors come in and do their audit the last week in March," Town said.

Town called the year-end report an "overall snapshot" of the hospital's finances. In part, the results reflect expenses associated with the construction of the new Samaritan Hospital, he said.

The construction bond that provided the last piece of financing for the project was approved by hospital district voters in April 2023. Prior to that, hospital officials weren't sure construction would start in 2023, so the budget projections didn't include those expenses, Town said.

"The mortgage for the new hospital is a little bit over $13 million (per year)," he said. "(About) $7 million will be covered by the (bond), a little bit over $6 million will be covered out of operations."

Those expenses had, and will continue to have, an impact on Samaritan's budget.

"You take away those interest expenses, we'd end up with a 3% margin and a positive bottom line," he said. "We didn't budget for that new building. So it really throws things off unless you sit down and see what expenses were tied to the hospital and take those out."

Town said some operating expenses went up too, and that hospital officials will have to find ways to address those.

Total expenses for the year were about $155 million, about 1% below the 2023 budget projection. Expenses in 2022 were about $143 million.

Personnel expenses, especially for temporary nurses and doctors, are driving a lot of the increase, Town said.

In answer to a question from Commissioner Dale Paris, Steven Brooks, Samaritan's chief human resources officer, said hospital officials have a goal of about 30 temporary employees on average for 2024. As of the end of January Samaritan had the equivalent of 40 temporary employees.

For 2023 Samaritan spent about $12 million for temporary manpower, Town said, mostly nurses, physicians and other medical professionals like lab technicians. Samaritan is unable to fill all of its jobs for medical professionals, a problem it shares with healthcare organizations nationwide.

"We're competing against Wenatchee, Spokane, Seattle — it's tough," Town said.

The nationwide shortage of nurses raised wages for temporary nurses and made it an attractive career opportunity, Town said in earlier interviews. Bishop said Samaritan was paying about $110 per hour to the companies that provide temporary nurses, but recently renegotiated that rate to $90 per hour.

The number of temporary employees is decreasing, Town said.

"I do feel good that we're getting that number down," he said. "And hopefully it continues on that decline."

Samaritan has hired people for permanent positions in some areas, like the lab, but is still looking for permanent employees in others, like medical professionals for the walk-in clinic. In January the obstetrics department had the highest cost for temporary manpower, followed by diagnostic imaging (CT scans, MRI and similar procedures). Town said the imaging department has found permanent employees for most of its positions.

Town said it will be difficult if not impossible to fill all the open positions with permanent hires, but that hospital officials are working to hire as many as they can.

"Honestly if we can get (temporary employment expenses) down to $5-$6 million, I'll be happy," he said. "I remember in 2019, we were all frustrated at $2 million a year, and now we're happy to get it to half (of the current expense)."

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.