PORT ANGELES — The mood was lighter than usual at the Olympic Medical Center commissioners meeting Wednesday as voters had approved the hospital district’s levy lid lift in Tuesday’s primary election.
The measure was passing with 59.1 percent support ahead of Thursday’s 5 p.m. ballot count.
The new levy rate will more than double the current rate of 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value to 75 cents per $1,000. The estimated $12 million OMC will collect annually will not solve its financial problems, but it is a sign commissioners said of the community’s confidence in the hospital.
“It’s an important piece of success going forward,” Commissioner Ann Henninger said.
Chief Financial Officer Lorraine Cannon reported that OMC lost $1.2 million in the second quarter and $6.4 million so far this year, but the hospital is moving in the right direction compared to 2023.
That year, its losses were $5.9 million and $13.9 million over the same reporting periods.
“We’re showing progress,” Cannon said.
Although OMC has instituted strict cost-cutting measures, professional fee expenses have remained resistant to reduction, primarily due to it having to rely on locum tenens — providers on contract — to provide care as it seeks to hire permanent employees for those positions.
OMC budgeted $3.6 million in the second quarter for professional fees, for example, but the actual expense was $9.2 million.
Cannon reassured commissioners the reason OMC’s cash on hand dropped to 35 days in the second quarter was due to payroll and the last day of the quarter landing on the same date, Friday, June 28, and it not receiving government payments until the following week.
If the two events had not occurred simultaneously, she said, there would have been more than 40 days of cash on hand. That number would rebound and not further decline, she said.
The costs incurred by patients who stay at OMC longer than medically necessary because they could not be discharged or transferred has been a financial burden because the hospital is not reimbursed for their care.
Board President Thom Hightower asked if the problem is declining, staying the same or growing.
OMC CEO Darryl Wolfe said it appeared the number is increasing, with perhaps eight to 12 patients on any one day. Issues such as determining guardianship, complex medical conditions or behavioral needs keep patients in the hospital because it is unable to send them to an appropriate facility.
In other news, Chief Medical Officer Scott Kennedy said a “mild” surge in COVID is making its way through the community. One or two and up to six patients had been in the hospital with the virus.
“What we’re not seeing is patients going to the ventilator as we have in the past,” Kennedy said. “There’s even a touch of flu out there. Not much RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) right now, but we expect for all of these to converge again in November or later.”
Molly Martin, executive director of the Jamestown Healing Clinic, gave commissioners an update on the treatment center in Sequim that administers FDA-approved medications and comprehensive wraparound services for individuals with opiate use disorder.
About 85 percent of the clinic’s patients are prescribed methadone, Martin said. Buprenorphine and naltrexone also are prescribed.
By far the most prevalent illegal opioid in Clallam County is fentanyl, she said.
“Fentanyl changed the game in terms of prescribing for opiate use disorder,” she said.
The clinic’s transportation, childcare, dental care and other services are “big selling points” in convincing individuals to seek and stay in treatment, Martin said.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
