While there may not be a positive dollar balance just yet, there seems to be reason for a positive outlook on the financial state of Delta Health System after the sale of its Senatobia campus was approved last month by the Washington County Board of Supervisors.
An asset purchase agreement to sell Senatobia’s Highland Hills Medical Facility to Tate County for $3.5 million and special warranty deed was first approved by the DHS Board of Trustees.
The BOS during a Dec. 27 special meeting authorized a resolution approving the action.
In a preceding regular meeting, DHS attorney Scott Phillips told the BOS, “We’re going to expedite the closing and we’re going to get most of the money upfront and then we’re going to have to operate through May 1 with Tate County subsidizing it.”
Back in November, Bose Public Affairs Group’s Sam Odle — who was retained in August by the BOS to conduct an analysis of DHS’ financial condition — appeared before the BOS to give his latest report which indicated DHS was “moving in a positive direction.”
Odle highlighted one of the most important strategies for DHS - The Medical Center is to separate itself from Senatobia and Clarksdale.
The separation from its Clarksdale campus is not anticipated to be quite as easy.
Back in August 2022, a report prepared by interim CEO Iris Stacker on Delta Health System’s financials indicated a net income of negative $13.2 million in the year to date at that time.
Stacker’s report included all DHS facilities and medical groups.
Of the net income of negative $13.2 million, DHS–The Medical Center accounted for a negative $334,000; Northwest Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale, a net loss of $3 million; Highland Hills Medical Center in Senatobia, a net loss of $2.2 million; and DHS’ medical groups consisting of Washington County, Clarksdale and Senatobia had a combined net loss of $7.6 million in the year to the date of Aug. 8, 2022.
Now, many of those operations, according to Odle, are no longer being subsidized by DHS-The Medical Center.
Stacker noted during the BOS’ Dec. 18, 2022 regular meeting that DHS’ financial situation for November would not reflect the strategies or other implementations that had recently been put in place, but she wanted to ensure supervisors are given the information they “deserve to get” every single time she’s before them.
“We’ve been looking at getting monies to improve our quality of care. There’s a program that Medicaid has that will give us at least $2 million the first year we’re in this program, up to $6 million the next three years to help us not only improve our quality of care for our patients in Washington County, but also use that incentive program to get more money for our county. That’s one of the strategies that we're using to turn that budget around,” said Stacker.
She also noted, with assistance from Congressman Bennie Thompson, plans to meet with Medicare, Medicaid and U.S. Department of Human Services in an effort to spur additional aid to local hospitals.
“We’ve submitted questions and concerns to them and we will meet with them to ask for more relief from Medicare and Medicaid, which are our largest payers in Washington County,” Stacker highlighted. “We’re also looking at opportunities to form partnerships, not buying facilities mind you, but partnerships with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC's) like Delta Health Center and different hospitals within our organization so that we can better our healthcare, increase our providers and increase our referrals in Washington County.”
Stacker alluded to “volumes” being the key, along with Medicaid expansion, to solving nearly every problem that exists with DHS.
Volume-based care, also referred to as fee-for-service care, is a payment model where providers are reimbursed depending on how many services or procedures they provide.
As she is often asked by fellow community members what can be done to help, Stacker said her response is and always will be, “Use us.”
“I’m not telling people they can’t use their doctors out of town, but when you get your lab work done get it with me. If there is any testing or anything, we have local doctors that I would put before any in Jackson and we need to use our community and our doctors and our hospitals so we can stay viable here in Washington County,” Stacker said further.
She pointed out the staffing of nurses has been increased which should lead to an increase in volumes and potentially in revenue for DHS facilities.
“We are trying our best to decrease our losses within the medical groups — that’s our physicians — by renegotiating contracts, increasing their volumes and making sure that our revenue cycle department gives all the money we deserve,” said Stacker, noting a new revenue cycle department for DHS medical groups.
In addition to potential funds from other divestments, Stacker anticipates funds in the amount of $3.3 million from FEMA sooner than later as well as funds from Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).
Other opportunities DHS is exploring include the implementation of “other kinds of nursing,” which Stacker likened to a former program of DHS’ that brought in nurses from the Philippines.”
“We’re asking the legislature and the Congressman to help us alleviate some of those problems by getting those nurses in our workforce. For us, we’re still trying to get our own nurses to come back after some of the constraints of Covid and now, the flu,” Stacker added.
One promising detail she shared in conclusion was two third-year residents in the DHS residency program who have both committed to returning as practicing physicians — a welcomed glimmer of hope for Washington County’s most relied upon medical facility.
