Financially troubled Delta (Colo.) County Memorial Hospital continues to suffer from hefty financial challenges as it reported an extended operating loss.
The system, anchored around a 49-bed hospital serving Western Colorado, reported salaries and wages jumping 68.4 percent year on year to total $10.95 million as of March 31. Contract labor rose 15 percent to total $651,300 when it had been budgeted to be below 2022 levels.
Overall, the system reported a $1.2 million operating loss as of March 31 compared with a budgeted $832,000 loss and a fiscal 2022 loss of $1.1 million for the same period.
Delta County Memorial, which also failed to file a required annual bond report, received a cash infusion from local government after it discovered it was low on cash due to high debts being paid off through its days of cash on hand stockpile. Its former CFO resigned in March.
The audit deadline was only revealed two weeks before to the audit team because of the leadership transition, the hospital said, describing the inability to file the report on time. The audit will be presented for approval at board level and filed "in the very near future," Kelly Johnston, interim CFO, said in a statement shared with Becker's.
The hospital also stressed how the state cash payments were ones that were due and would have been paid later this year.
The hospital system has also been in dispute with some workers about adequate pay.
Editor note: This update adds additonal context from the health system and corrects the executive departure to the CFO.