Juneau’s city-owned hospital is in a much better financial position than it has been in years. According to a report to the hospital’s board, the hospital has been making steady positive income for the last eight months.
Bartlett Regional Hospital’s CEO Joe Wanner gave an update on the hospital at the Southeast Conference’s Mid-Session Summit on Wednesday.
“With the support of the board, the support of the CBJ Assembly and the support of the community, we were able to right-size the hospital, get back to our core services,” Wanner said. “We’ve kind of turned the corner. We want to refocus on why we are here at Bartlett, and that is to care for patients.”
The newfound stability comes less than a year after the hospital announced it had a multimillion-dollar budget deficit that threatened bankruptcy. The hospital’s board was able to avert bankruptcy — but not some difficult decisions. It cut back staffing and, controversially, closed programs like Rainforest Recovery Center and its new crisis care unit last year.
Despite the tumultuous year, Wanner – who became CEO last fall – said the hospital is working to expand services in new areas. In late January, the hospital announced the opening of a new orthopedic outpatient specialty clinic, which it says will increase patient’s access to orthopedic surgeons in Juneau.
The hospital is also gearing up for a multimillion-dollar emergency room renovation slated to begin this spring.
“What this will do is basically give us a modern ER with negative pressure rooms, let us face some of the modern diseases, such as COVID (19) and all the other things that seem to come off the cruise ships during the summers,” he said.
During the speech, Wanner highlighted the hospital’s launch of a mobile crisis unit dedicated to assisting people with mental health emergencies. In the first two months of operating, its crisis team assisted nearly 60 patients.
But, he also said there’s still a lot more the hospital needs to do to maintain financial stability into the future. He said it continues to struggle with recruiting and retaining staff. Currently, about 10% of its overall staffing is filled with contract employees, which is driving up costs.
The hospital is also dealing with problems with its aging infrastructure and removing asbestos from its building. The last time the hospital received a major renovation was two decades ago.
