WYNNE — CrossRidge Community Hospital is continuing to face financial difficulties, despite an increase in patient revenue.
CrossRidge Administrator Garrett Morgan said the hospital has a year-to-date loss of about $295,000, which represents a 1.55% total margin. That’s compared to a margin of 2.94% one year ago.
Morgan said patient volumes have actually increased across several departments. However, it has not been enough to overcome declines through the 340B drug program and from sales tax revenue.
Morgan discussed the financial picture during a meeting of the hospital’s Governing Board yesterday.
“We were seeing bad debt really start creeping up. Medicaid re-enrollment changed in June, so you have to do it every six months versus once a year,” Morgan said. “Our team is having to track that and you also only have 30 days to get them retro-activated where it used to be 90.
“We’re really monitoring at the federal level our Medicaid expansion, which is called ARHOME. 207,000 Arkansans are covered through that insurance and CMS denied our request to renew it. We’ve had that in place since 2014,” he added. “The state legislature is working really hard trying to figure out how we can get that coverage remained or at least comparable. It’s set to expire Jan. 1. We’re hoping to get a two-year extension to give us time to figure out the best plan forward. The state legislature is working diligently on that, but we’re monitoring it closely because we’ve gotten hit pretty hard.”
Morgan also provided an update on the virtual smart room technology, which is scheduled to go live by Oct. 1 and will expand the hospital’s telehealth services. The project was fully funded through the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Program.
Morgan also noted that Dr. Cameron Duke and his wife, Dr. Anna Mears Duke, have begun seeing patients at Wynne Medical Clinic. They are replacing Dr. Jeremiah Nugent, who is transitioning to the emergency room at CrossRidge, and Dr. Tim Baty, who will join the UAMS North Central Family Medicine Residency Program in Batesville. Baty’s last day is Friday.
Morgan also discussed possible funding through the Arkansas Rural Health Transformation Program.
