Local & State Headlines

Phoebe budget to top $1B

• Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has budgeted for 13 percent more indigent, charity and uncompensated care during the 2009 fiscal year, hospital officials said.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — After an hour-long meeting closed to the public, the board of directors of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital adopted a spending plan Wednesday for fiscal year 2009 that includes a 4 percent increase in rates and projected gross patient revenues of more than $1.22 billion.

The private, not-for-profit hospital is raising its charges, typically room rates, for the third consecutive year, after increasing rates 6 percent for 2008 and 8 percent for 2007.

Hospital Chief Financial Officer Kerry Loudermilk cited several factors creating short- term “uncertainty” in the health care industry and impacting budget decisions during a brief budget presentation to the board.

They include the July 1 effective date of a Georgia Certificate of Need reform law, the growth of high-deductible health plans and uninsured patients, and projected future shortfalls in Medicaid reimbursements and funds paid from the Indigent Care Trust Fund, according to a document Loudermilk presented.

From the net 4 percent increase in rates, Phoebe will see only a 1.3 percent increase in revenues from charges, because of higher write-offs and little or no change in payments from fixed-based payors, Loudermilk said.

An income statement for 2009 showed Phoebe’s gross patient revenues to increase 7 percent to $1,122,667,000, deductions to increase 10 percent to $683,748,000 and net revenues to increase 4 percent to $448,143,000.

Operating income will be essentially “flat,” increasing 5 percent to $10,411,000, during 2009, Loudermilk said.

The hospital will reinvest more than $58 million into services, technology and facilities in the new fiscal year.

The investments include $28 million for the completion of Phoebe’s $50 million Tower II, $1.8 million for the renovation of nursing units, $9 million for the start of construction of Willson Hospice House and $3 million for an expansion of the Family Tree, Phoebe’s employee child care center.

“We are proud of the services we provide to Southwest Georgians,” Wernick said in a statement. “We are a growth organization focused on providing the best in facilities and technology for our physicians and staff who care for the citizens of this region.”

As a tax-exempt organization, Phoebe will contribute $116,295,000 in community benefits during 2009, an increase from $104.4 million in 2008, Loudermilk said.

These benefits include Phoebe’s school nurse program, which will shrink from $659,000 in 2008 to $514,000 in 2009 and Phoebe’s Network of Trust. Charity and indigent care write-offs will increase from $31,207,000 to $35,286,000 and uncompensated care will increase from $64,127,000 to $72,509,000 in 2009, he said.

Spending for indigent, charity and uncompensated care will increase 13 percent during the new fiscal year.

“We don’t require, as for- profit hospitals do, that you be able to pay to get into the hospital,” Loudermilk said.

Albany’s for-profit hospital, Palmyra Medical Center, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Phoebe last week in U.S. District Court, alleging Phoebe engaged in anti-competitive practices.

On July 1, Palmyra also filed a letter of intent with the Department of Community Health to begin providing level-one obstetrical care.

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