GOLD BEACH – The Curry Hospital District made a profit last month, Chief Financial Officer Mark Sayler told the district’s board of directors on Thursday.

Sayler said the district had a net margin in December of $115,380.

“We had a gross revenue of $3.5 million, at or slightly above budget,” Sayler said. “What really drove it was surgery. That generated a lot of revenue. It was the surgery that really drove things.”

 But Sayler said the hospital is still operating with much less cash on hand than it needs.

He said the revenue from December won’t start showing up for two months.

At the same time, Sayler said that Shore Pines assisted living center is doing better.

“With the new budget for the next six months, by then, we’ll pretty much break even,” he said.

Sayler said Shore Pines now has 40 to 43 patients, with a slight increase in private patients who pay more for services than those on Medicaid or Medicare.

“Eventually, we’ll  likely even make a small profit,” said Dale Thomas of the budget committee.

The health district expects to save more than $1 million annually as the result of cutting back staff in December at the recommendation of its consultants.

The district made the cuts in an effort to stem substantial losses suffered over the past two years.

The district eliminated 23 positions in December. At the time, Chief Executive Officer Bill McMillan said those cutbacks would save $928,000 in direct salary or $1.1 million counting benefits.

The health district was told by its auditors in October that it had lost a substantial amount of money during the past two fiscal years, which could endanger the district’s ability to stay in business.

The audit noted the district’s management is establishing productivity standards and is continuing to analyze less profitable operations, the district’s rate structure, potential new profitable services, and other strategies to improve the district’s operating results.

The audit showed that the hospital district reported an operating loss of $1,132,000 in the last fiscal year, although  Sayler notes that with the property tax collected by the district, that is reduced to $936,000. The loss in Fiscal Year 2010 was $552,000. 

The district, which operates Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach, Curry Medical Center in Brookings and Curry Family Medical in Port Orford, had operating income of $466,000 in fiscal year 2009.

The district notes that much of the problem is the economy, and decreased payments from government health plans.

The Curry Health District hired Quorum Health Resources (QHR) of Brentwood, Tenn., as consultants to help it pull its way out of the losses.