Nashville (Tenn.) General Hospital is financially healthier and should no longer need additional city funding, an audit has concluded, according to the Tennessean.
The safety-net hospital's solvency has been of concern amid financial challenges. But auditors said Nashville General is significantly less likely to need additional cash from the city due to improved bookkeeping, aggressive collections and increased funding, the Tennessean reports.
"You continue to have operating losses, but you are always going to have operating losses as a safety-net hospital," David Hunt, an audit principal with Crosslin Certified Public Accounts, told hospital leaders during a Nov. 29 Hospital Authority Board meeting. "But the key is, in the past several years, you've not necessarily been able to sustain your operations based on the subsidy from Metro [the city], and you've had to go back for additional funding."
In April 2017, the city announced Nashville General would receive $35 million of its original $55.7 million budget subsidy request for fiscal year 2018. Hospital officials said the city understood the hospital would need to come back to the city for extra funding later, and in January, the city approved a supplemental subsidy of $17 million for the remainder of the fiscal year. Nashville General was able to return $3 million of the supplemental subsidy to the city.
Nashville General received $46.1 million of the $47.6 million budget subsidy it requested for fiscal year 2019 and won’t need to request a supplemental subsidy.
During the recent board meeting, chair Joel Sullivan acknowledged the hospital leaders and staff contributed to the improved audit, according to hospital officials.
"To do what we’ve done financially in two or maybe three years is huge," said Mr. Sullivan.
According to the report, Mr. Hunt said auditors are recommending multiple adjustments, and Nashville General's largest remaining deficiency is the lack of an efficient system for receiving up-to-date financial information from the company it outsources for billing.
"Improvements are ongoing — this is not something you change overnight," Mr. Hunt said.
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