NRMC audit -- good news, bad news

Nevada Daily Mail

After a rough year financially during the 2014 fiscal year, the Nevada Regional Medical Center's board expressed a desire to move on after receiving an audit report from BKD at their meeting, Nov. 25.

"It's nice to put this audit behind us," CEO Kevin Leeper said. "We're separating ourself from that year... I'm glad to say good-bye to a bad year and I think we all aspire to put that behind us and focus on ahead."

BKD partner Brad Brotherton and director David Taylor gave the board a summary of both the long-term care and hospital audits, sharing both good news and bad news.

Brotherton praised the nursing home for its improvements in numbers this year over previous years, adding up to $700,000 in improvements at the bottom line of the audit.

Taylor said they made only a few minor adjustments to the audit, which increased the bottom line by $14,000. Those changes are almost insignificant and speak to the consistency of the nursing home on a monthly basis.

With a slight decrease in cash and the capital assets, the nursing home boasts total assets of about $8 million with the operating revenue up almost $800,000, while the operating expenses rose only about $69,000.

The news from the hospital was not as positive as they faced a large deficit compared to past years. But Brotherton said they expect a turnaround in the future after having already seen some improvements recently.

"Things today feel much more stable than they did a year ago," Brotherton said.

After multiple adjustments in the audit, to the sum of a $1.7 million decrease, NRMC faced an $8.1 million loss in the last year, with part of that downfall accredited to fewer patients and declining reimbursements from the government.

CFO Greg Shaw said his team faced a difficult situation this past year with a 180 percent turnover rate on the financial team in that time.

"We have a new road map to follow," Leeper said. "And I think it's a celebration that we're on track. It's not going to be a quick journey, but we're going to get there."

In other business, the board nominated Steve Russ as chairman, Jenise Burch as vice chairman and Larry Bledsoe as secretary to replace outgoing officers. They also improved items such as replacing a vacuum and garbage disposal, purchasing a cardiac monitor and renewing the copy systems maintenance.