April was basically “a break-even month” for Three Rivers Health.

That was the indication from Steve Andrews, vice-president of finance, as he reviewed financial reports during the May meeting of the Three Rivers Health Authority Board Thursday morning (May 28th).

Andrews said, “It’s pretty much what’s been going on for the last quarter.  Volumes continue to be below expectations.”

Andrews said the focus in recent months “has been on the cost side and increasing collections.  We really need to move a lot of that emphasis to the top side and focus more on revenue growth.”

The “Summary of Financial Performance” for April shows net income for the month of less than $4,000 ($3,656), an amount that was nearly $77,000 ($76,905) below budget.

Year-to-date figures show net income of just under $40,000 ($39,596), which was nearly $117,000 ($116,597) above budget.

Andrews said, “May numbers indicate that there, more than likely, will be a loss – depends on bad debt and contractual.”

Andrews and Matt Chambers, president and CEO, both reported on additional cutbacks in areas such as home care and hospice, dietary and some therapies, closing of the snack bar at HealthTRAC and trimming of hours at the fitness facility.  And Chambers said that, because of the hospital’s inability to continue its “tithing” practice of recent years, the “school nurse” position will be eliminated at the end of the current school year.

During a post-meeting interview, Chambers noted the “break-even” performance of the last several months after losses totaling more than $3.2 million last year and said, “We’re cautiously optimistic.  It’s not time for a celebration or anything like that because we have a long way to go.  We still have very little cash on hand.  It just means that we have to be very, very careful with all of our resources.”

For comments from Matt Chambers on the hospital’s financial situation, click here here for an excerpt (5:58) from a post-meeting interview conducted by Bruce Snook of the River Country Journal.