Clinic examines new funding possibilities

June 7 , 200

Managers of the Wahkiakum Family Practice Clinic continue to seek ways to cut costs and enhance revenues, Business Manager Kathleen Patterson said Tuesday.

The clinic is facing a $250,000 shortfall this year, and clinic staff and Wahkiakum County officials have been looking for ways to improve the financial health of the county owned clinic.

Patterson said she has been on vacation recently but she and staff have been able to analyze two points:

—The county made the right decision in choosing to operate under federal rural health clinic status, she said.

“We’ve crunched the numbers; it is well worth it,” she said. “If we were not a rural health clinic, we’d be getting $100,000 a year less.”

—The clinic at this point can’t afford to be without one of its two registered nurses (RN’s).

Replacing an RN with medical assistants has been suggested as a cost saving move, but Patterson said medical assistants can’t direct care; they can only follow directions. The RN’s can also prescribe medications, renew prescriptions, do IV’s, report lab test results, and so on. Finally, without two RN’s, there’s no one to cover in case of illness, vacation or other absence.

Patterson added that she had recently learned of a federal program to cover the administrative costs of service to Medicaid patients. This could possibly generate around $100,000 in new revenue, she said, if the program works as described.

Patterson also said that it might be possible for the clinic to charge its patients a monthly fee that would cover some costs.

Commissioners said they had been told such a program would conflict with insurance carrier contracts; they agreed that idea be checked to see if is actually feasible.

Patterson said a fee of $10-15 per month would cover much of the clinic’s personnel costs, and this would eliminate the need for a tax to support the clinic.