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Hospital budget request fails
Published 7/29/2009 in Local News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
LAKIN — The future and how Kearny County Hospital will move forward after a requested budget increase failed by 18 votes Tuesday remained uncertain this morning as Hospital Administrator John Loebl spoke on the election's results and where the hospital will go from here.
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Stephanie Farley/Telegram — Kearny County voters line up Tuesday at the Veteran's Memorial Building to decide on a requested budget increase for Kearny County Hospital. The request of $1,849,152, or 6.796 mills, failed 410 to 392.
He was certain of one thing, though.
"Today will be business as usual," Loebl said.
He said the hospital and High Plains Retirement Village are committed to providing the highest level of service and care to the patients and residents the facilities serve.
"That's the most important thing right now," Loebl said, adding the high quality of care has been and will always be the case, and that won't change regardless of election results.
On Tuesday, 809, or 36 percent, of Kearny County's 2,235 registered voters turned out at the polls in Deerfield and Lakin to have their say on the hospital's requested budget increase. The request of $1,849,152, or 6.796 mills, to Kearny County commissioners failed Tuesday 410 to 392.
If approved, the increased mill levy would have meant the owner of a $100,000 valued home would have seen an increase of $38 a year in property taxes. Since the budget request was more than six mills, the question was automatically put to a vote.
"Obviously, it was a very close election just like the last time," Loebl said, citing the hospital budget's request of $1,595,389 for last year failing by 10 votes.
"It's very disappointing," Loebl said. "But we understand that (voter sentiment), and we'll move forward."
The request included $1,133,652 for operating costs and $715,000 for capital equipment. The biggest capital equipment cost is the government-mandated Electronic Health Records (EHR) system implementation. The government is pushing hospitals to convert from a paper records system to a complete electronic system — the hospital included $250,000 in the budget for Phase One software, a program designed to keep digital records.
"Vote Here" signs were tacked to doors and another sign sat in the middle of Main Street on Tuesday, pointing voters in Lakin to the Veteran's Memorial building.
The need for more money and equipment was enough to get county resident Kirk Yakel to the polls. Yakel, who stood outside the building Tuesday afternoon, voted for the hospital's request.
"If it's going to keep the hospital here, we need it," Yakel said of the money.
"We've gotta have a hospital," Yakel said, adding he's willing to pay more to have it.
Hospital staff were worried residents might not turn out to vote for one issue on a day — July 28 — that doesn't really stand out.
To garner public support and increase voter turnout for the request, Loebl and others with KCH provided information for numerous newspaper articles and advertising; individuals wrote letters to the editor asking people to vote; KCH had a presence every day at the Kearny County Fair; Loebl and others gave presentations and sat down for coffee and chatted with folks; and there were the signs that stated there were three reasons of "family, friends and neighbors" to support the budget increase.
"I kept saying, 'don't let me forget. Don't let me forget,'" Lakin City Clerk Cindy Broeckelman said of voting as she waited her turn Tuesday.
"I'm for it," Broeckelman said of the request.
Broeckelman knows it's more money, but if the county doesn't maintain and update the existing facilities and equipment, "where are we going to be?"
"It's important to me that we keep our hospital," Broeckelman said, explaining that if the request was voted down, the facility would have to tighten its budget just like everyone else. Broeckelman hoped people would listen to the reasons for the increase and not simply vote it down because it would mean more taxes.
"I'm proud of what we have, and I'd like to keep it that way," Broeckelman said.
According to hospital officials, hospitals that haven't started implementing the EHR program could start to see a cut in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement in 2015. The hospital relies heavily on reimbursement from insurance companies to cover costs of visits and care.
Loebl said hospital operating costs are up also because surgery numbers have increased. The procedures cost more, and keeping sufficient equipment and supplies for the surgeries adds to the cost.
A lot of people had different perceptions of the request and why it was needed, he said. Some of those perceptions were positive, some weren't, Loebl said, and people voted according to what their perception was.
He said he thought it would be premature -- before he, hospital staff and the board of directors have a chance to talk -- to say what moving forward looks like for the hospital. Moving forward, he said, will include staff exploring different ways to finance capital equipment. Some items, he said, may have to be delayed.
As for the EHR program, Loebl said they'll look at other financing for that, too, whether it's grant opportunities or other funding. However, he said, staff hasn't seen many grants, yet, the hospital qualifies for.
"That's something we do have to get started doing," Loebl said of EHR.
He said the hospital will need to come up with a plan more in sync with available financing and some of what voters voiced through the election.
"We've just been steady all day," supervising judge Rita Stockton said Tuesday as voters continued to stream in.
"We're ready for No. 532," she said of voters. "One hour to go."
"You gotta spend money to grow," Lakin resident Judy Moody said of why she supported the request.
In the end, past work on the hospital and the fact the facility seems to keep asking for more was what made Lonnie Matthews, Lakin, vote against the request.
Matthews said it's time for KCH to stop "dogging the taxpayers" and hold the budget steady for a while.
Tim Horner, Lakin, used to work in the dietary department for KCH. While he said he believes there is equipment the hospital needs, there are other ways to fund the needs instead of raising taxes.
Horner also said that if the government wants hospitals to switch to electronic records systems, the government, not the community, needs to pony up the money.
ReChelle Kennedy, KCH chief financial officer, said if the budget request failed, the hospital likely would receive last year's mill levy, 3.455 mills or $1 million.
On the Web:
Kearny County Hospital: http://www.kearnycountyhospital.com/
Where do you think the hospital should go from here? Talk about it at SWKTalk.com.
Found 1 comment(s)!
Unwise spending
I have to say that I voted no and it wasn't because of the increase to my taxes, it was due to what I've seen to be unwise spending. Do our taxpayers know that there is a tv in every ER room that cost nearly $2,000 per tv? Not to mention the several large flat screen TV’s that are in other parts of the hospital. Do they know that the CFO is no longer living in Kearny County, and she works 2/5ths of the week from home, did she take a cut in pay? Or that several of the nursing staff management have cut their duties, did they have to take a cut in pay or did we leave the pay the same and hire additional help? Did we really need parkay flooring, oak inlayed cabinets or whirlpool tubs in the maternity rooms? Our hospital has become quite the showcase but does any of those expensive details bring in additional revenue? I thought this quote from Cindy Broeckelman in your article was interesting..."It's important to me that we keep our hospital," Broeckelman said, explaining that if the request was voted down, the facility would have to tighten its budget just like everyone else." I have had to figure out ways to make ends meet and tighten my budget, but it would appear that the KCH doesn't think that is it necessary for them to do the same. I’d also like to point out that several people quoted in this article made some reference to “the importance of keeping our hospital” as if by not getting this increase it was going to close the hospital. I suppose that impression came about when one KCH article referenced the closing of Larned Hospital, but I don’t think that was ever really something that was going to happen if they didn’t get the requested amount. Should services that aren’t able to profit be continued when KCH isn’t able to stand on it’s own two legs? Or should the taxpayers have to pony up when expenses exceed income? Last year this issue was taken to the voters, this year it also was taken to the voters, will we have to vote on this again next year? At what point will the management say “the voters have spoken” and maybe just maybe we should look within to cut some of the extra fat. I wonder exactly how much it costs taxpayers to keep revisiting this issue each year or when the county commissioners will say ok enough and just make the tough decision to just say NO.
Posted by: LH on 7/29/2009
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