Red to black: Last month’s taketh is this month’s giveth

Decatur Daily Democrat:

At last month's meeting of the Adams Health Network (AHN) Board of Trustees, members learned a state hospital tax tab of $1,346,270.49 had put their financial bottom line several hundred thousand dollars in the red.

This month, the federal government came a-callin' again, but this visit left the hospital leaders in good spirits as Medicare deposited a settle-up check for 2011 in AHN coffers for approximately $750,000 — meaning the hospital now shows a $268,298 balance in the black.

AHN President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Nordwick and AHN Chief Financial Officer Dane Wheeler reported to the board that the cost report that Adams Memorial Hospital (AMH) submits to the government at the end of May (the most recent was for the 2011 calendar year) settles up the payments the hospital received for Medicare patients (who account for about 60 percent of the AHN business).