Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Wash., is currently building a new medical office, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
Here are five notes:
1. The new office is being built for $14.2 million under the Clallam County Hospital District 2, OMC's public owner-operator.
2. Despite having a good current financial prognosis, OMC is a small rural facility that relies heavily on government healthcare for 83 percent of its reimbursements, 60 percent of which comes from Medicare alone.
3. Hospital CEO Eric Lewis states that OMC laid-off no employees during the recent recession, although it didn't fill every vacancy.
4. Some of the goals laid out in OMC's 2016 to 2018 strategic plan are as follows:
- Recruiting primary care providers, including specialists, in psychiatry, rheumatology, obstetrics/gynecology, pulmonology, orthopedic surgery, cardiology, oncology and gastroenterology.
- Opening a walk-in clinic in Port Angeles by the end of next year.
- Starting an outpatient surgery center in Sequim, Wash., in 2018.
- Adding a pain-relief program for end-of-life patients in hospice beds by the end of the 2017.
5. CFO Julie Rukstad's third quarter year-to-date financial presentation was positive overall:
- Despite a 3 percent decline in surgeries in 2014, clinic visits increased 14 percent, CT scans increased 18 percent, oncology procedures increased 29 percent and home health visits increased to 40 percent.
- Operating income increased to $6.855 million, which was 304 percent above levels budgeted for 2015.
- Due to increased coverage by the ACA, bad debt and charity dropped $2.166 million, a 37 percent decrease.
- The total margin for OMC in mid-2013 had decreased more than 4 percent, but rose to nearly 6 percent in September.