Auditor praises OHH board

An independent auditor praised the Olney Hamilton Hospital board of directors for doing “a lot with a little” and keeping the 116-year-old hospital financially sound in difficult times.

At a June 23 presentation, Forvis Mazars auditor Deborah Whitley presented the results of the hospital’s annual audit.

She noted that “inflation is affecting the bottom line” across the country, and hospitals are suffering because they cannot pass the costs on to customers as other businesses do. OHH has a large population of Medicare patients whose cost-based reimbursements do not always cover the costs of caring for them.

She also noted that the costs of cybersecurity services has risen 300 percent over the past year because of attacks aimed at accessing public health information.

She said OHH’s bottom line was “significantly impacted” by inflation and higher labor costs -- racking up $2.4 million in additional operating expenses.

The hospital brought in an additional $6 million in revenue from patient services, she said.

The hospital showed net income of $1.2 million in fiscal year 2023-24 compared with a $340,000 loss the previous year, she said.

The hospital’s assets improved to $2.3 million in FY 2023-24 from $1.98 million the previous year, she said.