Important upgrades planned for hospital

Gordon Woods
Posted 4/17/18

Important upgrades planned for hospital

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Important upgrades planned for hospital

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CLINTON — The city passed its 2019 fiscal year (FY) budget on Monday.  As part of the reports presented during the public hearing, Warner Hospital CEO Paul Skowron talked about a number of capital improvements planned for the facility.

The hospital budget for the 2019 FY beginning May 1, “is just under a $30 million gross revenue budget,” Skowron reported.

Expenses will come from about $17.8 million in net patient revenue.

Because of a profitable string of years, “we are continuing to invest to upgrade the facility,” Skowron said. 

The capital budget for 2019 is about $1.1 million as well as $273,000 carried over from the previous fiscal year.

“That’s money that was approved from last year that hasn’t been spent yet.”

Among the planned capital improvements, the hospital is currently in the process of installing an emergency generator for the Family Medicine facility.

“It did not have its own stand-along generator,” Skowron said.

The hospital elevators also are in line for replacement.  Repair parts are no longer available for the current elevators.

“It’s one of those things. If we hope to build a new hospital in 10 years, what can we continue to use for the next 10 years?  The elevator is not one of them.”

That work will be paid for from the capital money carried over from the 2018 FY.

From 2019 FY money marked for capital improvement, resurfacing of the concrete parking lot has been moved from a contingency to a first quarter expenditure, Skowron said.

He said this was due to the harsh effects of winter weather on the lot. 

Facility maintenance supervisor Tom Hankins said replacement of the lot would reach near $200,000.  A Decatur firm, however, can apply a polymer seal coating to the lot for significantly less money, Hankins said.

“…Which will extend the life of the lot for five to 10 years.”

He said the coating would smooth out the surface and fill holes that are causing some flooding problems.

The work could be performed over a weekend rather than the lengthy disruption caused by replacing the concrete.

A big upgrade for 2019 will include new digital x-ray equipment, at a cost of about $300,000. 

“It’s all the standard x-ray equipment that we have that has been customized to be digital but is not truly digital,” Skowron said.

An incentive for the upgrade is the Medicare plan to eventually not accept non-digital x-rays.

Images from digital x-ray systems have higher resolution and can be transmitted more rapidly to other healthcare providers.

“That’s an upgraded technology that we’re looking forward to.”

The hospital employs 105 fulltime and 50 part time people, most of whom live in DeWitt County.