Winneshiek Medical Center reports a 47 percent drop in revenues in April

The COVID-19 epidemic has not been good for the financial condition of Winneshiek Medical Center.

WMC Chief Financial Officer Lynn Luloff reports the medical center suffered a 47 percent decrease in revenues during April.  A number of factors led to the drop.  For instance, WMC had just 13 "patient days" for its surgery department—a 92 percent drop from the anticipated budget.  There were only 26 surgeries done in April, far below the anticipated over 200 surgeries. "We're well below budget," said Luloff.

At the same time, Winneshiek Medical Center had an increase in its costs—including from the added costs of personal protective equipment.  Additionally, visits to the Decorah Clinic were down 50 percent in April.

All those factors led to a $1.9 million operating loss at the medical center.  Winneshiek Medcial did receive $1.2 million in federal and state stimulus funds, but that still left it with a $600,000 net loss for April and a loss of $932,943 so far this fiscal year.

Weekly billings have now started to increase, but cash receipts are still lagging.  Luloff estimates it will be mid- to late-June before those figures turn around.

Winneshiek Medical Center Operations Administrator Dave Rooney says visits to the Decorah Clinic have now rebounded to around 80 percent of normal (it had been as low as 32 percent of normal).  Rooney says if clinic visits return to near normal, WMC will be in better shape, noting that clinic visits "are the driver of everything."