There’s little doubt the financial picture at the John C. Fremont Healthcare District has been dire for quite some time.
And it remains in that condition.
However, Stacey Kuzak, the CEO of the district, told members of the board of directors last week she believes there is some hope on the horizon.
“We are weak on volume growth and operating margin,” said Kuzak.
She also said in the past year, the hospital has lost $6 million, though there have been some gains in a few areas.
One problem area is with accounts receivable, she said, where 79 percent of outstanding balances are more than 90 days overdue.
“We don’t have a lot of standardized processes in place,” she said. “We’re trying to get everyone on the same cadence.”
Kuzak told the board the hospital has about 60 days of cash on hand.
Another balancing act officials are trying to navigate is a previous loan from the state for $10 million that was given for distressed hospitals while also working toward a much larger loan that is going to be needed to build a new hospital. (See related story.)
The first loan was a Department of Health Care Access and Information award for $10 million that was issued a few years ago.
The district has spent about $6.3 million of the total loan, leaving $4 million to spend.
“We are working with HCAI,” said Kuzak.
But in doing so, she said officials “continue to ask us why we haven’t” spent all of the funds.
“It’s a continuous question,” said Kuzak. “We do plan to use them.”
At the same time, she said, they are also working to try to get loan forgiveness on the entire amount, something that has been accomplished by other hospitals around the state.
“We are working on when to apply for forgiveness,” she said.
She said they are targeting early November to begin that process.
“It’s a balancing act,” said Kuzak. “We have to be really careful about the USDA loan and what that means.”
In going over the financials in place of the CFO, who had a family emergency, Kuzak said she feels some of the numbers are encouraging.
For example, she said visits to the emergency department are up about 2 percent over the same period last year. Inpatient numbers, too, are up, she said, with an average of 10 per day. That compares to 7.4 last year.
The clinic, as well, has shown a 21 percent increase over the prior year.
Kuzak also addressed the issue of the difficulty some people have when calling the hospital and nobody answers.
“We are aware of the issues with the phones,” she said, adding they are working with the staff to help with the new processes.
In other business:
• Heather Bernikoff from the John C. Fremont Hospital Foundation made a presentation and said there has been a change in the structure of the foundation. That change, she said, is trying to “move it back to where it was before the pandemic.”
Bernikoff is hopeful there can be a closer partnership with the hospital.
“We’re growing and we are going to be able to make the case why the hospital is critical and why philanthropy is important,” she said.
She also said the foundation has provided a lot of equipment to the hospital, along with scholarships.
“We are really proud to do that,” she added.
• Mariposa County Supervisor Jenni Kiser was also at the meeting and she talked about the Missouri Gulch housing project that was recently approved by the board.
She said the developer is “committed to workforce housing,” something that is of high interest to hospital district officials.
“This is a huge opportunity for our community,” said Will Fassett, the lead planner on the project.
• Teresa Johnson, the vice chair of the board, made a presentation about a recent visit to the Oak Valley Hospital District.
The JCF district recently entered into an agreement with Oak Valley to share services and for other purposes.
“I was highly impressed,” she said. “They were very grateful for our partnership.”
She also said they offered to take in some long-term care patients from Mariposa to keep until there becomes an opening locally.
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