TONASKET – As of the board meeting on Thursday, March 10, the North Valley Hospital District was still struggling with their warrants, being nearly $240,000 shy of their next payment to the county.

“I looked at the February volumes; we’re still doing okay and only a little over budget,” Chief Financial Officer Bomi Bharucha said. “We’re still struggling with the warrants, but I think we can do some payroll things to get back under budget. We are nearly $240,000 shy of making our next payment and I think it’s a good time for senior leadership to meet and see about being more proactive toward the warrants.”

Bharucha said the district has been receiving Medicare payments that are substantially larger checks than previous these last few weeks but that they haven’t received all of their Medicare reimbursements yet.

NVH Administrator Linda Michel addressed this issue in her written report to the board as well.

“We continue to have some issues with Medicare and Medicaid holding payments due to problems with yearly updates with their systems,” Michel wrote. “This is a temporary issue that is affecting all hospitals and should be resolved soon. The bills have been transmitted to Medicare and Medicaid but the returns have been sporadic.”

Finally, Board Commissioner Lael Duncan, who was in Washington D.C. meeting with state representatives, ended the board’s short meeting with a conference call. She said she had met with Sen. Maria Cantwell, Sen. Patty Murray’s aid and with Rep. Cathy McMorris.

“We’re continuing to push the envelope as far as making our representatives know what we’re doing and what we’re going to need in the future,” Duncan said.

The next board meeting will be on Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m.