Health center to undergo fiscal analysis
Washington County Health Center
Observer-Reporter/Barbara S. Miller Washington County Director of Human Services Tim Kimmel will now also be the director of the county health center.
Washington County commissioners awarded a $30,000 contract to a consultant from New Castle to conduct a fiscal analysis of the health center, which ran $1.5 million in the red last year, a million dollars more than projected.
The consulting and accounting firm Arnett Carbis Toothman of Lawrence County responded to the county’s request for letters of interest from firms willing to help the county minimize costs and maximize reimbursement for services.
The census at the 288-bed, county-owned health center Sunday was 259.
Tim Kimmel, Washington County director of human services and health center administrator, said, “Our cost per patient day is $296.54. Our reimbursement per patient day ranges from $224.37, which is our Medical Assistance rate, to an average Medicare rate of $485.”
“We would like to have every bed full, absolutely,” Kimmel said. “Two-hundred sixty-five would be good.”
This year, losses at the health center are “going to be close to $2 million, and we need to stop that somehow,” said county commission Chairman Larry Maggi in March when the board agreed to advertise for a consultant. “It’s going to continue to grow every year. We’re using money from the general fund. We don’t want to make a profit out there. We just want to stop the bleeding of money. We’re just trying to break even and make it sustainable.”
The board of commissioners took action last Thursday, so Kimmel said he expected to meet with the consultant within a week or two, and the study should take about three months.
Another factor in the health center’s financial state is that industrywide trends emphasize home care rather than institutionalization, and many counties have privatized their nursing facilities.
Over the years, many county homes have been privatized. A 2014 study counted 23 county homes among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, ranging in size from the 115-bed Armstrong County Home in Kittanning to the 908-bed Fair Acres Geriatric Center in Lima, Delaware County.
Maggi said earlier this year that Washington County is not now looking at privatizing the facility in Arden, Chartiers Township.