WCHS approves $26.5M prelim budget

The Weston County Health Services board of trustees approved a $26,486,368 preliminary budget for fiscal year 2023 on May 15. The budget includes expenditures and revenue from the hospital, as well as the Newcastle and Upton clinics and pharmacies. 
“We’ve kept everything pretty status quo,” CEO Maureen Cadwell said during an interview with the News Letter Journal. 
This year’s budget, according to the provided documents, is $1,437,284 more than the budget for fiscal 2022. The largest increase, Cadwell said, is for wages and additional staff. 
“The biggest increase is pay increases based on the annual survey done by the Wyoming Hospital Association,” Cadwell said, noting that the facility uses the WHA survey report as a way to compare and set ranges for salaries. 
In addition to the pay increases, Cadwell said, the budget increase also includes the cost of hiring two doctors who have joined the facility, but were not included in the fiscal 2022 budget. 
The proposed increase for salary and wages is $978,791, bringing the total amount of wages paid by WCHS to $12,154,348. This increase, when combined with the benefits and taxes associated with the increases, adds another $1,286,541 to the total budget, bringing the total expense for wages, taxes and benefits to $14,805,154. 
The total cost for other expenses — including purchased services, supplies, pharmaceuticals, legal and professional fees, general and administrative expenses, utilities, insurance and depreciation and amortization — will increase $150,743 over last year’s. 
Decreases in the line items for both purchased services (down $563,461) and depreciation and amortization (down $198,193) helped to offset the increases in other line items. 
“We have an increase for supplies and pharmaceuticals (up $598,732) because of inflation. We are seeing food being around 15% more,” Cadwell said.
She noted that the facilities have also struggled with supply shortages and have had to shop around for various items. The total amount budgeted for supplies and pharmaceuticals is $9,970,508. 
Utilities (up $105,562) and general and administrative expenses (up $185,689) have also gone up because of inflation, Cadwell said. The total amount budgeted for utilities is $486,471, and for general and administrative expenses WCHS has budgeted $1,123,764. 
On the revenue side of things, Weston County Health Services reports an estimated net operating revenue of $26,486,368 for the upcoming fiscal year. Net patient revenue will bring in a total of $21,593,056, while other retail revenue is anticipated to bring in $4,262,797.
The biggest revenue source is outpatient services, which is anticipated to bring in $17,456,063. Other patient revenue sources are inpatient ($7,217,455), home health/in-home/lifeline ($772,921) and the Manor ($4,464,429). 

 
The capital expenditure budget for fiscal 2023 includes $3,143,500 in expenses, although Cadwell said that some of the projects will depend on funding sources. 
“We are hoping to get some of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant monies to pay for the top four items (on the budget), in particular,” Cadwell said. “If we don’t get grants, we will have to figure out what we do — if we go ahead with them or wait.” 
Those four items, according to the provided documents, are an oxygen supply upgrade for $150,000, Manor HVAC for $1,200,000, Newcastle clinic building upgrade for $1,200,000 and Upton clinic building upgrade for $150,000. 
Other expenditures include a patch and seal of the parking lots for $20,000, steam sterilizer for $50,000, blanket and fluid warmer for $15,000, a treadmill for cardiac rehab for $10,000, sleep study equipment for $17,000, televital signs roll carts and telemonitors for $55,000, ultrasound machine for $100,500, a CT upgrade for $135,000 and a few other items. 
Also included in the capital budget is $15,000, which came to the facility by donation, to automate the main Manor door. 
If the grants are received, the capital budget will be funded by $2,770,000 in grants and donations, with $373,500 coming from the facilities.