ECRMC’s update at new healthcare district board: financial outlook looking bright
EL CENTRO — El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) provided a financial update to the newly created Imperial Valley Healthcare District Board of Trustees during a special meeting on Thursday night.
According to a press release from the El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC), the meeting, held at the City of El Centro’s Council Chambers, allowed ECRMC to present the Board of Trustees and the community with accurate and reliable information demonstrating that ECRMC is on the right path to recovery.
“El Centro Regional Medical Center Staff and the Board of Trustees have established a new leadership team to manage the hospital,” El Centro Regional Medical Center Board President Tomas Oliva said in the release. “The leadership team is actively working on finalizing the seismic retrofit requirements and the Ancillary Ambulatory Building to comply with State regulations. The Board of Trustees has changed the course of healthcare in Imperial Valley by seeing other stakeholders as partners and not competition. Our healthcare system is stronger when we are working together.”
Per the release, during Thursday’s meeting, Velez stated that ECRMC currently has a cash balance of over $20 million and is projected to have close to $30 million by the second quarter of 2024. ECRMC’s earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDA) have increased since the second quarter of 2023. The hospital’s EBIDA went from a nearly $4 million loss in the second quarter of 2023 to an increase of more than $3 million in earnings this quarter. ECRMC’s net operating margin has also increased since the second quarter of 2023. The hospital erased a nearly $ 8 million deficit in the second quarter of 2023 to a projected less than one million this quarter.
Statewide regulations led ECRMC to incur debt by bringing all its buildings into compliance with new earthquake regulations. Currently, ECRMC is the only hospital in Imperial County to be near completion of retrofitting for earthquake-compliance. An increase in staffing during the COVID pandemic also further caused a strain on the hospital’s budget, according to the release.
“ECRMC has proactively improved contract management and negotiated better contracts for the hospital,” the release reads. “Velez pointed out that the hospital is creating new programs and service lines, ensuring patients don’t have to leave the county for primary care.”
According to the release, the hospital’s Emergency Department treats about 2,900 patients in a month. ECRMC provides the community with Intensivists in its Intensive Care Units; these physicians are highly trained to manage critically ill patients. In ECRMC’s outpatient clinics, it treats about 6,620 patients every month. ECRMC’s Cancer Center treats about 680 patients a month, and in its infusion, the center treats 1,300 patients a month. ECRMC is the only cancer center in the county serving its entire population. The Imperial County’s cancer patient population benefits from the latest oncology clinical trials with ECRMC’s affiliation with the UC San Diego Health Care Network. ECRMC has the only Robotic Surgical Program in the County, performing about 50 monthly procedures.
“ECRMC is a critical part of the overall healthcare system in Imperial Valley,” Oliva said in the release.