HOSPITAL EXPECTS THIRD YEAR IN BLACK A.V. OFFICIALS PREDICT $759,000 SURPLUS FROM LAST FISCAL YEAR.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Antelope Valley Hospital officials predict a $759,000 surplus from the last fiscal year, marking the third consecutive year ending in the black following four years of multimillion-dollar losses.

Hospital officials expect another small surplus at the end of this fiscal year, according to the 2006-07 $259.7million budget adopted last week.

``Overall, it is an aggressive budget that is going to require us to revisit many of the hospital operations to make sure they are running as efficiently and effectively as they possibly can,'' said Brad Mucek, chief financial officer.

The hospital is looking to add revenue with the $24.3million Women and Infants Pavilion, which is expected to open soon in a converted skilled-nursing building next to the hospital.

Moving obstetrics out of the main hospital building will increase the number of medical-surgical beds.

``By having those beds move out of labor and delivery, it allows us to open more beds in the hospital,'' Mucek said.

The hospital also will work on reducing bad debt, which occurs when patients don't pay the hospital for services received. Bad debt amounted to $44million last fiscal year.

Since the closure of the Los Angeles County hospital in Lancaster, patients who would have gone there are flooding into Antelope Valley Hospital's emergency room for primary and urgent care, placing a burden on the district hospital.

``We don't get any tax revenue from the county or state. We are like a normal for-profit hospital in that regard. When we get bad debt, that's our tough luck,'' Mucek said.

The hospital will try to do a better job of managing people who come to the emergency room by determining which patients truly are emergencies and which are not. Those who are not will be asked for payment up front.

``The law does not require us to treat you regardless of ability to pay if you are not emergent. If you've got a cold, it's acceptable for us to expect some kind of payment,'' Mucek said.Labor expenses are up in the budget with a 5.5percent raise given to registered nurses, the result of a negotiated settlement with the California Nurses Association.

The hospital is holding contract talks with the Service Employees International Union, which represents the hospital's other employees.

The hospital ended the last fiscal year with a $396,000 surplus, and the year before with $66,000 to the good.

[e-mail]

[phone]