Tahoe Forest Hospital District 2016 Budget Approved

Board Votes 5-0 to Approve Annual District Budget

The Tahoe Forest Hospital District (TFHD) Board of Directors unanimously approved its annual budget in a special board meeting held on Thursday, June 18, 2015.

It was announced that a moderate 5% inflationary price increase would take affect in the 2015/16 fiscal year for approximately ten common hospital charges beginning 8/1/15. These include Emergency Room Level rates and three areas of inpatient room rates including the Intensive Care Unit, Medical Surgical Unit, and Obstetrics Unit. All other hospital charges will stay the same or decrease; for example, it is anticipated that charges for total joint replacement procedures will drop up to 10%.

The annual FY 2015/16 budget was presented by Crystal Betts, Chief Financial Officer for the District, and was focused on conservative projections for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015.

Impacts to the budget include seasonal fluctuations from lack of snow, mandates of the Affordable Care Act, expansion of the state MediCal program and transition to MediCal managed care, changes in payor mix including reimbursement reductions, labor cost increases of 8% for some clinical jobs, and inflationary supply costs. It was noted that management will continue to take an aggressive and proactive approach to manage controllable expenses, with a balance of key investments to maintain the District’s capital structure.

TFHD’s pricing overall for the 25 most common procedures is lower, on average, than Barton Memorial in South Shore, and Renown and St. Mary’s hospitals in Reno, Nevada. For health care’s most commonly used services, pricing is lower at Tahoe Forest Hospital than Reno and Sparks hospitals and comparable California hospitals based on hospital charge masters. Competitive and transparent pricing with other regional hospitals is a priority for Tahoe Forest Hospital District.

Tahoe Forest Hospital District is one of the highest rated small hospitals in the nation based on quality and patient satisfaction ratings, most recently recognized with the only 5 star rating for patient satisfaction in the region by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.