DZA Associates provides 2019 financial audit to the Hospital District board

DAYTON—Tom Dingus, owner of Dingus/Zarecor & Associates, Certified Public Accountants, presented the 2019 Basic Financial Statements, and Independent Auditor’s Reports to the Hospital District Board of Commissioners at a special meeting last week.

2019 Financial audit

Dingus said the 2019 financial audit went smoothly.

“Half the hospitals in your group are doing better and half are doing worse,” he pointed out.

He said the Hospital District has the resources to pay its obligations, as they become due, and long-term debt is being paid off.

“You had a high debt to equity ratio for a while, but you are edging down as you are paying off more debt than you are incurring,” he said.

Dingus said there is very little bad debt in the community and charity care has never been particularly high.

The District is replacing equipment at the same rate it is being used, he said.

Areas needing work are; working to reduce the amount of time it takes to collect on patient accounts, and balancing the costs associated with providing patient care with the amount of revenue received from providing patient care.

While the District’s cash position, to date, is good, the COVID-19 situation has added a complicating factor for auditors and hospital administrators to consider in the future.

“My sense is that for smaller Critical Access Hospitals the CARES Act money pretty much should backfill the lost revenue and additional expenses,”

He said the funding received to date should be enough to handle another surge in COVID-19, if that happens.

“The systems are getting better and better. You have had positive bottom lines for several years in a row, now. You may want to gain ground, but you are staying steady and making progress forward,” Dingus told the commissioners.

Assisted living facility

A discussion that took place in May (see the June 11 edition of the Times) regarding a proposal to build an assisted living facility to the north of the hospital, was continued.

At the end of the discussion the Hospital District board agreed to allow the Health System CEO to proceed in finalizing the plan.

Dingus told the board there are currently only five hospitals in the state with nursing homes.

“Fifteen years ago, there was a long list of hospitals with nursing homes, that no longer have them,” he said.

The state is trying to get out of the nursing home business because that patient care represents the highest cost.

Dingus said the concept for building an assisted living facility makes sense from a financial aspect.

Dingus, Zarecor & Associates PLLC (DZA) is a certified public accounting firm located in Spokane Valley, Washington serving healthcare and not-for-profit organizations.