HOSPITAL AUTHORITY APPROVES BUDGET

August 20, 2008

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year at Stephens County Hospital does include some changes. The Hospital Authority approved the budget at its meeting Monday. Stephens County Hospital Administrator Ed Gambrell says the new budget will take effect October 1. "I guess the main highlight is that it does include a rate increase of 4.75 percent," says Gambrell. "The way we compute that is we look at what the inflation factor is for a lot of the products that we most purchase."

Gambrell says the hospital, like everybody else, faces rising costs when they go to purchase things, which raises its expenditures. However, Gambrell indicates that most people using the hospital will not notice that anything has changed in the rates. "The way hospitals work, however, is that we are involved in a part of many contracts," adds Gambrell. "Of course, Medicare or Medicaid, but insurance companies too. So, the odds of any individual patient seeing that increase is fairly small." The Hospital Authority approved the budget unanimously.