Financial woes continue to mount for Ark City’s struggling South Central Kansas Medical Center.
Members of the board of trustees mostly discussed pending financial issues when the board met Tuesday evening at the hospital. Ark City commissioners are currently serving as trustees.
Those issues include the struggles of Winfield Medical Arts, a practice purchased last year by South Central Kansas Medical Center. Hospital CEO Virgil Watson said the hospital purchased Winfield Medical Arts with hopes of increasing its area market share and operating it in the black.
But from January to May, officials said, WMA has shown a loss of $442,000. About $130,000 of that is from losses incurred prior to the purchase.
Hospital officials said they will meet with officials from WMA soon in hopes of renegotiating an agreement that is currently in place.
The hospital is also continuing to repay just over $1 million owed to Blue Cross Blue Shield. Blue Cross demanded repayment of money that had been paid to Ark City hospital as reimbursement for work done through the hospital’s lab outreach program.
The intention was to do the lab work in house but SCKMC lacked the equipment to do the work on site. Instead, the hospital contracted with a company to have the work performed in Texas.
Blue Cross ceased payments in 2017 and told the hospital that it was in violation of an agreement between the hospital and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Blue Cross Blue Shield would not pay for testing done out of state and wanted back money it had already paid. Ark City hospital officials opted to repay the money rather than challenge Blue Cross Blue Shield thinking the chances for a successful challenge were low.
Hospital officials also said they wished to preserve their relationship with BCBS, which is a health insurance provider for many people in this area.
The hospital has thus far repaid $480,000.
