OCH Regional Medical Center on Tuesday released its 11-month financial statement, showing a decrease in the hospital’s cash loss from $606,587 in July to $232,210 in August.
Additionally, the hospital reported a loss for August in the amount of $63,342, which the hospital referred to as “significantly less’ than the loss of $1.8 million reported in July.
In presenting the figures, OCH Chief Financial Officer Susan H. Russell said in a letter to the Okitbbeha County Board of Supervisors the hospital could explain the figures, via how payment takebacks and incorrect reprocessing of claims have “significantly increased the deductions from revenue.”
As a result, the hospital claims the higher deductions have negatively impacted cash flow and bottom line.
An issue mentioned in the letter not reflected in the hospital’s income statement came in the way of underpayment by a major third party payor, which was noticed by the hospital’s director of technical billing.
The hospital’s “conservative” estimate is that it has been underpaid by roughly $2 million. However, this total could be higher once all claims have been reprocessed.
OCH said despite appealing claims with the payor over the last 18 months, the hospital has still not been fully reimbursed. The hospital has “contacted a representative at a higher level,” and is currently working through the issues with the payor.
The payor has informed OCH it should have an answer by Oct. 23.
“Other hospitals in our state have been faced with similar issues and have started receiving correct payment after communication with the payor,” Russell said. “We are optimistic this issue will be resolved before our final FY 2017 statements are released. The impact of the resolution of this error will be a reduction of the current $5.1 million loss.”
For the year, OCH reported total cash and investments of $20,884,839, with total assets reported at $107,967,314.
Total liabilities and capital was reported to be $107,967,314, while total adjusted gross revenue was $63,432,644 for the year-to-date.
Total expenses came in at $68,496,107 - which resulted in the hospital’s reported $5.1 million loss.