As Winneshiek Medical Center awaits a possible surge in coronavirus patients, it worries about the financial impact the outbreak is having

Posted: Sun, Apr 5, 2020 12:05 PM

Earlier, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a statewide order suspending all nonessential or elective surgeries and procedures. That order now has been extended through the end of the month.

The action is necessarily in order to make sure Iowa hospitals have enough beds and other facilities ready to handle any possible flood of coronavirus patients. But it has also had the side effect of cutting off a source of revenue for Iowa's hospitals.

Winneshiek Medical Center finished February with a small net profit from operations. But hospital officials are worrying about the impact of the governor's order on revenues in March and April.

"Our concern is decreased revenues. Cash flow is a real concern," Chief Financial Officer Lynn Luloff told WMC Trustees late last week. The federal government has promised financial aid to hospitals as part of the $2.2 trillion relief package, but details of the assistance have been hard to come by. "We don't want it to be like when we had flooding and (the federal government) was slow to get the money out," says WMC Chief Administrative Officer Lisa Radtke. She says WMC has been "working to flatten the financial curve."

Governor Kim Reynolds has issued an executive order allowing Iowa hospitals to borrow money to pay operating expenses, but such loans would have to be repaid, of course. Radtke and Luloff have had phone conferences with Eastern Iowa Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer and with State of Iowa officials as well. Still, they're a little nervous. Says Luloff: "We can't wait for two months for aid details to be worked out."