TONASKET — North Valley Hospital (NVH) Board of Commissioners (BOC) met for their regular monthly meeting, Thursday, Feb. 27. CEO John McReynolds briefly discussed the written administration report and highlighted a few key items.
“Today, the governor released his proposed budget for the next biennium. Which kind of compounds upon the bad news at a federal level expecting hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts both to healthcare and long term care. Two separate line items, both which are likely to impact us,” said McReynolds.
McReynolds said he talked at length with the finance committee regarding some of the proposed cuts.
“The federal level for Medicaid and the directive that congress is working on $880 billion cut which sorta can’t happen without going after funds of Medicaid. There is a lot that isn’t known about what that looks like but I think it’s pretty reasonable for us to be alarmed about that,” said McReynolds.
McReynolds spoke a bit about the 2025 staffing plan.
According to the written report, there have been five separations in 2025, so far, with an average workforce of 275 employees, resulting in a turnover rate of 1.82 percent. Retention strategies continue to be a focus
Lastly, McReynolds discussed being a couple weeks away from the street construction project.
“We are about to have a lot of fun and I want to show you what it’s going to look like,” said McReynolds.
“I met with the city to hear the proposed plans around detours and routes and I think a lot of it is still up in the air. What we know is that essentially the whole couple blocks here, the front of the hospital, will be under construction starting around March 10 and it will go on for some number of months,” said McReynolds.
McReynolds said during that time there will be a couple of big hurdles. “One is parking.”
Melissa Thompson, CFO, provided a financial summary for the board.
“Basically, in looking at our year-to-date totals, as a district we had for 2024 a loss of $1.96 million dollars. We had anticipated an income of $45,000 and so that leaves us now at a variance of this $2 million deficit,” said Thompson.
Also noted in the administration report, “As of January 31, the hospital’s cash reserves have declined to 44 days, driven by a combination of scheduled bond payments, reimbursement adjustments, construction, expenses, and operational challenges.”
Thompson said the primary contributing factors include: Bond obligations, reimbursement clawback, construction costs, operational pressures, lower patient volumes in the second half of 2024 and increased reliance on high-cost traveler staffing in the first half of the year.
“These financial constraints are exacerbated by uncertainty at the state and federal levels, particularly regarding Medicaid funding. The Safety Net Assessment Program (SNAP), which provided $1 million in reimbursement in 2024, has not yet been approved for 2025, raising concerns about future revenue stability.” admin report.
To mitigate these challenges and ensure financial stability, the report noted, “the hospital is implementing a multi-pronged strategy focused on cash flow optimization, cost control and revenue enhancement.”
Thompson went on to point out, “In looking at our operating, you see that we have a variance from the budget of $2.36 million. Our inpatient volume was seven percent below budget and our impatient revenue 1.6 million below budget.”
The commissioners gave their reports.
The board approved the Consent Agenda which includes the regular board meetings minutes from January; Bad Debt, $62,668.28; Charity Care, $82,798.10; NVH Vouchers No. 125192-125398, $2,266,582.60; LTC A/P Vouchers No. 24570, $453,902.48.
Also approved were the medical staff courtesy appointments and reappointments of Brandi Davis, MD Pathology; Yehia El Guindy, MD; Fallon Fehringer, PA-C Hospitalist; Caroline Howell, PA-C Hospitalist; Cynthia Jensen, ARNP TFMC; Christopher Zoolkoski, MD Emergency Medicine; Courtesy Reappointments; Krystina Boyko, MD Extended Care & OP; Shari Jackson, MD; Marc Koenig, MD; Steven Lamb, MD; Samantha Lancaster, MD; Mark Mayhle, MD; Brandt Mohr, MD; Mark Turpin, DO Extended Care; and Carter Yeatman, MD.
The board of commissioners regular meetings are held the last Thursday of each month. The public is welcomed to attend the meetings both remotely or in person.
