Bartlett Regional Hospital, following a series of actions including program and staff cuts to reverse four years of heavy losses, has achieved six straight months of positive net income, according to a presentation made last week to its board of directors.
The hospital still has an overall loss of about $3.6 million for the 13-month period ending Oct 31, indicating ongoing heavy monthly losses during the first half of that time span, according to its most recent financial report. But board member Max Mertz, during an update to the rest of the board Thursday night, said steps taken since the scope of the hospital’s financial crisis was presented to city leaders this spring shows the situation is no longer perilous.
“I think it’s fair to say that we can set aside this popularly used notion in the media that we are losing a million dollars a month,” he said. “That is not the case anymore. I think it’s important. We still have a lot of headwind ahead of us, but we definitely are performing at a level that we weren’t a year ago at this time last year.”
Bartlett leaders told the Assembly this spring the hospital would be bankrupt within three years due to losses of about $1 million a month dating back to mid-2020 unless major budget and operational changes were made. Since then Bartlett has closed, scaled back and/or gotten financial assistance from the city and other entities for multiple programs including crisis stabilization, residential substance abuse treatment, and home health and hospice — with hospital officials saying their goal is ensuring the continuation of core medical services.
The hospital’s month-to-month financial statements for the past year show major variances due to the program shifts as well as Bartlett’s takeover of the Wildflower Court independent nursing facility last summer, but a clear reversal of the hospital’s fortunes starting in May is evident.
Bartlett reported monthly losses of nearly $2 million for both October and November of 2023, and then incurred losses of between about $622,000 and $1.3 million until April 2024, according to the financial report presented to the board last Thursday. The hospital reported a surplus of nearly $1.4 million in May and surpluses averaging $983,000 for the next four months, followed by a surplus of about $152,000 in October.
Along the same trend line, the hospital’s fund balance has gone from about $68.4 million in October of 2023 to a low of $61.8 million in April of this year to $77.6 million in October.
In another indicator of cost-cutting, the hospital has gone from 664 full-time equivalent positions in December of 2023 to 582 in November of this year.
In a matter related to Bartlett’s budget, the board on Thursday approved a tentative new three-year contract for union employees at the hospital that includes a 2% raise already being paid for the fiscal year ending next June 30 (plus 0.5% paid retroactively to July 1 subject to Assembly ratification), 3% for the following fiscal year and 5.5% the year after.
Board members also approved allowing new CEO Joe Wanner to discuss a master affiliation agreement with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Care Network. Such agreements by hospitals are common and, in this instance, Bartlett is seeking “to benefit from increased buying power and educational opportunities, expansion of local specialty services and increasing the availability of medical procedures here in Juneau to allow patients to receive the care they need without having to travel,” according to a memo presented to the board.
“We can either purchase the services and we can bill them underneath our clinic system, that’s one avenue. It’s probably the most expensive way, ” Wanner said while discussing the proposal with the board. “But the other thing we talked about (is) do we rent them a space where they bring their specialists and they’re just tenants of ours.”
New board leadership was elected toward the end of the meeting, with Deborah Johnston — who has served for six years, including the past two as vice president — elected president to replace Kenny Solomon-Gross. John Raster was elected the board’s new vice president.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
