Hospital’s financial future looks good after clean audit
The books look good at Polk Medical Center, and are likely to continue on track for another profitable year as the budget numbers continue in line through the 2019 fiscal year.
Officials presented the Cedartown-Polk County Hospital Authority with the FY 2018 fiscal year’s audit, and after reconciling the numbers came up with a total of more than $8.4 million in profits compared to the $5.6 million that they made in the 2017 fiscal year.
The auditors who completed the report for Polk Medical Center’s financial performance gave the company an unmodified opinion of their books, meaning that not only are they clean but also healthy.
Officials from Draffin and Tucker added that compared to other rural hospitals around the state, Polk Medical Center remains in a good position as well, with long term debt down to around $30.3 million according to Clarice Cable’s latest estimates.
That debt however was bundled and assumed by Floyd Healthcare Management along with borrowing on the bond market for Floyd Medical Center as well, which tops out overall at around $182.1 million.
Despite the debt, hospital revenues and services remain strong based on latest figures. Polk Medical Center’s number of in-patient and swing-bed patients remain on track with growth as they have in previous months, and Floyd Healthcare Management Vice President Matt Gorman said
that daily averages for patients staying in the hospital remain at a healthy 22 per day during this month alone. He also expected to see an increase soon in emergency care visits as flu season approaches.
“We’re likely to see that account for some of the differences in the numbers,” Gorman said.
There were on average around 73 visits per day to Polk Medical Center’s emergency room in October. There were more than 2,000 visits reported during the month of September alone.
As Polk Medical Center continues to treat patients in the hospital setting, they also seek to do their part outside as well. Last year,
they undertook a pair of information meetings with Willowbrooke at Polk at the College and Career Academy campus in Cedartown about teen suicide prevention, and drug and alcohol abuse.
One of those two programs were brought back to the Rockmart area already for a discussion about teen suicide prevention, and Gorman said another is scheduled to provide the east side of the county to take part in a discussion about how to know the signs and prevent drug or alcohol abuse in teens and adults alike.
“We believe it is a good thing for us to be able to hold these programs in both communities,” Gorman said.