Hospital audit statement misleading, CEO says

The 2007 Boundary County government audit indicates that Boundary Community Hospital’s “significant operating losses raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue.”

Craig Johnson, chief financial and executive officer for the Bonners Ferry hospital, claims the comment from the 52-page audit is misleading.

“We’re going to be here for quite some time,” Johnson said about the statement, which was included in a local radio broadcast last week.

“There’s no danger in the hospital closing its doors,” he continued. “We’re going to continue providing services and we are continuing to expand our services. We recognize our country is in economic hard times and we’re watching our expenses. We always do that.”

County commissioner Ron Smith also claims the county-owned hospital is financially stable.

“I can assure you they’re in good shape,” Smith said.

Bonners Ferry certified public accountant Leonard Schulte, who did the county audit, got the information from a separate audit on the hospital.

“Because it was in their report, it had to be in the county report,” Schulte said.

Smith explained “that’s the way accounting is.”

“It’s really misleading,” he said. “It gives you a false (impression). The hospital is doing well and it’s well managed.”

Johnson says the hospital has been losing money annually for several years. It experiences an average annual loss of about $300,000. For 2008, the loss was $156,000.

The good share of losses are due to debt from the hospital’s inability to collect patient co-payments and deductibles and bills for uninsured patients.

(In 2007), we had almost $500,000 (in bad debt) and this year (2008), over $600,000,” he said. “There’s a federal law that if an individual arrives at the emergency room, we have to provide services before they provide anything about payment. When a person gets medical care (in the emergency room), it’s the most expensive.”

Every attempt is made to collect debt.

“We’re seeing more and more bad debt,” he said. “It’s a sign of the economic times.”