"Eroding" reimbursement levels becoming a concern for Winneshiek Medical Center

Winneshiek Medical Center continues to do well financially.  With just one month's worth of financial figures left to compute for its 2015-2016 fiscal year, the medical center shows $95 million in total patient revenues.

But that figure is not the bottom line, of course.  There have been $50 million worth of "contractual adjustments" and other debits from total patient revenues.  After expenses are paid and non-operating revenues are added, Winneshiek Medical Center reports a $3.5 million net gain for the fiscal year.

WMC Chief Financial Officer Lynn Luloff says she is worried, however, that various health insurance companies and other payers have been reimbursing the medical center at lower rates--2.6 percent lower compared with the same period last fiscal year.

It's a problem being shared by other hospitals.  Luloff says the Iowa Hospital Association's "Data Trends" show that contractual adjustments for 101 hospitals reporting in Iowa increased anywhere from 8 percent to 17 percent during January and February of this year when compared with the same two months in 2015.

Mayo Health Systems La Crosse Chief Administrative Officer Joe Kruse says other hospitals in the Mayo system have also been experiencing the same increase in adjustments.