Polk Medical Center continues positive growth for coming budget
Editor’s note: due to an error on our part here at the Standard Journal, we began working on this story and it got posted before we were finished. This updated version is what we meant to print, and we apologize for any confusion. — KM
Positive growth remains a goal for executives within Floyd Healthcare Management for Polk Medical Center, and with approval of their 2020 fiscal year budget set to start in July they are on target for another year of profits.
Clarice Cable, vice president of finance for Floyd Healthcare Management, reported that profits for the year remained above the original budgeted expectations for the 2019 fiscal year, with $8,640,111 in profit on the books compared to the $7,113,646 that was expected.
She reported the difference after net income and expenses were considered of 21% above their budget expectations for the year, and 31% above the year prior’s profit heading into the final month of FY 2018 at $6.5 million. She additionally reported a positive operating margin of 23% heading into the final month of FY 2019, and said it was healthy.
After providing her financial report to the board, she got right down to business with the budget for the coming 2020 fiscal year for Floyd Polk Medical Center’s portion of the budget.
Total revenues are expected to come in at $31.7 million after deductions are considered for FY 2020, down from $32.1 million income figure projected to finish out the 2019 fiscal year. That compares to a new budget figure of $24.7 million in expenditures compared to the $24.4 million expected to be spent this year. Though not as large a profit as the previous fiscal year is expected, Cable reported that they still anticipate a $8.3 million year for FY 2020.
That’s not to say they won’t make more than those annual budget figures by the time June 2020 rolls around and they seek approval of a new numbers for 2021.
Both the board for the Cedartown Polk County Hospital Authority and the Polk Medical Center, Inc., board gave unanimous approval of the figures for the coming year. The numbers will still have to be approved at the Floyd Healthcare Management, Inc., board before they become official for the year.
Board members also were provided their monthly patient totals for May, which remained on average for swing bed and inpatient admissions as in past months and years since the hospital’s size limits the number of beds available to those in need of programs like physical therapy.
Where the numbers have fluctuated some is in emergency room visits.
On average, more than 2,000 patients are treated in Polk Medical Center’s emergency room per month, but monthly trends have seen the numbers go down and though the hospital is on track to end the year seeing more patients coming in for immediate treatment overall, the numbers have been a few hundred off from year’s previous since January 2019.
Matt Gorman, Vice President of Corporate and Network Services for Floyd Healthcare Management, explained that some of the dips have come due to a lesser flu season, and more patients seeking different treatment options like a trip to Urgent Care instead of an emergency room visit for more common ailments.
One area where growth is slowing picking back up is in surgical cases and procedures at Polk Medical Center. Patients figures from the operating room were back on the rise during May and already exceeded last year’s total overall with 97 cases reported for the fiscal year compared to 84 for all of FY 2018. The year thus far is only three cases shy of exceeding the FY 2017 figure of 100 total for the year.