Would be profitable even without county subsidy, treasurer says

By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

    Morgan Memorial Hospital set a revenue record for the fifth month in a row in May.
    “I know it’s becoming boring and repetitious, but once again we’ve set a record for gross patient revenue,” said Morgan Hospital Authority Treasurer John Milliken. “We are $500,000 over our projected budget for this point in the year.”
    Net patient revenue at the hospital for the month of May was $1.14 million, leaving the hospital a net income of $33,302 for the month, and $71,000 in net income for the year—that’s money that would be profit even if the county were not subsidizing the hospital.
    “When we back out the county contribution…we have just under $71,000 for the year (in net profit),” said Milliken.
    Patient days were up at the hospital, with outpatient totals at their highest levels ever. The emergency room alone logged 689 visits, or about 22 per day, for the month of May.
    Hospital officials also learned that the facility will receive an additional $100,000 in state funds for the year for its Level IV trauma center. (Fourteen trauma centers across the state are benefiting from a $50 million apportionment by the Georgia state legislature, the lion’s share of which is going to Grady Hospital in Atlanta.) The trauma center money comes without strings attached.
    “We can use that money any way we want—for equipment, services, physicians, or maybe even renovations,” said Nursing Supervisor Sherri Vaughn. The $100,000 is on top of another $36,000 that the state had already budgeted for the facility.
    Morgan County commissioners re-appointed two hospital authority members, Betty Allen and Terry Evans, to new terms on the board; a new member, Tom Wommack, was also appointed and is expected to begin attending board meetings in July.
National EMS director Huey Atkins, who runs the county’s contracted ambulance services, was also present at the June meeting, to reiterate to board members what he told county commissioners last month—more people are choosing to come to Morgan Memorial hospital.
    “The majority of our patients are feeling more and more comfortable with this facility,” said Atkins.