Dayton Chronicle - Your Hometown News Source

DAYTON–The Columbia County Health System board (CCHS) was advised that a grand opening for the Rivers Walk Assisted Living has been scheduled on September 8.

The Grand Opening for Rivers Walk Assisted Living and ribbon cutting is scheduled for September 8 at 11 a.m. The facility will remain open until 4 p.m. Unit C (Palouse) is the first to reach completion and will have an open house. The unit is already staged and a virtual tour has been created and is available for viewing. Unit B (Patit) is mostly completed and Unit D (Tucannon) is expecting to be near completion by the middle of next month. A series of final checklists are being worked from until the fourth Unit A (Touchet) is complete and the facility is fully operational. This is anticipated for Monday, October 3 at which time residents are expected to move in.

In other business, commissioners were informed that July financials reported at the August 24 Board meeting reflected a net loss of $197,000; a new provider has been hired for the Walla Walla University Clinic that CCHS is partnering with to provide on-campus medical care during the coming school year.

July financials indicated a net loss of $197,000. However, CEO Shane McGuire assured that nearly $1.4 million in reimbursements are expected in the short term.

The financial statement provided by CFO Matt Minor stated that the net patient revenue was $279,000 under budget and operating expenses were $172,000 higher than budgeted mainly due to purchased services, and salaries and benefits. According to McGuire the days cash on hand is affected as a result and is down from an average of 30 days or over to around 20 days.

"We are still in the process of the Medicare repayment of the prepayment funds made during the COVID-19 pandemic," said McGuire. "The original amount was $5.5 million, and the terms of the payback started in August of last year at 25% of our Medicare Revenue which bumped up to 50% of our Medicare revenue starting in January. As expected, this has had a significant impact to our cashflow," he continued. "We are very near completion, and we will return to full reimbursement from Medicare. It will take us some time to build up cash." McGuire added, "We have two significant payables expected over the next few weeks with Medicare paying $700,000 from the 2021 cost report and the State of Washington reimbursing $300,000 for the Dental construction project. Lastly, we are working with the State regarding our Dental claims which amounts to $381,790. This represents $1,381,790 in near term deposits." Until the funds are received, they are doing short-term prioritization of expenditures.

Chief of Staff Lewis Neace said the hospital has been at or beyond capacity and that finding beds at other facilities continues to be a challenge. McGuire clarified this is partly because of specific requirements for one-on-one care that the hospital is not able to provide. In other cases, turning away patients because the hospital is full is not ideal, McGuire said, and they are working to open up a few rooms that are currently not in use or being used for other purposes which would increase beds to 18 in acute care.

Earlier this year, CCHS decided to partner with Walla Walla University to provide medical services to those on campus. A provider has been hired for the clinic to open on September 18 for the school year.

Dr. Audra Morgan has resigned from the Dental Clinic to work in her husband's dental clinic. Dr. Michael Strang continues to provide care one day a week while applications are received for consideration to fill Morgan's position.