Hospital officials discuss Winneshiek County's subsidy of the hospital

Winneshiek Medical Center officials on Wednesday said Winneshiek County's $436,417 subsidy of hospital operations is the fifth lowest in Iowa out of roughly 50 community hospitals.

Hospital officials presented financial figures on the operation of the Emergency Room, Urgent Care and ambulance, three 24/7 operations that WMC CAO Gretchen Dahlen called "high dollar services."

The total direct and indirect costs of operating the ER, urgent care and ambulance program was $4.8 million, according to Dahlen.  Those programs brought in $5.2 million in gross revenues, but the hospital had to make $1.6 million in adjustments and wrote off $1 million in bad debt and charity care.  That left the hospital with $2.6 million in net revenues, which means they operated the department at a $2.2 million loss.

Dahlen pointed out the hospital wants to continue to provide the three services.  She also said the hospital appreciates the $436,000 in funding it already receives.