(Seguin) — With so many unknowns these past couple of years, GRMC’s top administrator says the local hospital is also thankful to be reporting a healthy budget.
The update was provided to members of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court by Guadalupe Regional Medical Center.
Leading the budget presentation was Robert Haynes, the chief executive officer for GRMC.
“Bottom line, the operating budget shows you revenues of $392 million but the magic that is healthcare and how we get paid and how things are written down, you can pretty much wipe out about $276 million of that. So, you are looking at a budget of about $130 to $127 million depending at which year you are looking at here. Of that $127 million, $61 million goes back into salaries paying for about 850 employees that work in this community at GRMC. Getting down a little further, you have expenses for the coming year of $116 for a bottom line of about $5.5. The year we just finished, you’ll (2021) there but there are some adjustments — the bottom line (is) about $21 million and about $8 million of that is coming from the federal government in relief funds and as you know, you have to qualify for those funds and with the hard work of Mr. (Cody) Gann (GRMC chief financial officer) here and his team and the people at the hospital, we managed to qualify for those dollars and so it gave us a very healthy bottom line this year which we need because we invest in that hospital. You are the proud owners of the only city/county hospital in the state of Texas, owned by two entities — still operating,” said Haynes.
Haynes says even during a pandemic, GRMC has been able to embrace growth and new development.
“If you drive towards Gonzales, you see we have another medical officebuilding going up etc. We got about $16 million in capital expenses that we are putting into next year. So all in all, from a service standpoint, from a quality standpoint, an economic standpoint, the hospital has done well,” said Haynes.
Embracing the partnership that the county has with GRMC is County Judge Kyle Kutscher. Kutscher says there’s definitely a unique team that operates here in this community.
“It’s hard to convey like you said what everybody has been through the last year and a half but just for the public, I do want to say that we do have a true partner in GRMC that is a huge benefit not only to the county and the city but to the citizens, the whole community. The obstacles that the hospital has had to overcome during the pandemic is hard to put into words. You look at a bottom line on the budget and it doesn’t really convey the ups and downs and uncertainty and all the
things that along in planning and running a facility like that during a normal cycle much less during a pandemic, much less during a time when nurses are at a premium and you can’t find resources and the pay scale is all over the place and you don’t know whether you are going to be busy or slow next month and that roller coaster has gone on every quarter since the beginning of March 2020 but the hospital along with the city of Seguin, businesses, the public — I mean everybody has been working as this cohesive unit to do what we can to provide services to the public. We talk about the last city, county owned hospital in the state of Texas and it’s a neat thing to say sometimes but the partnerships that we have and we’ve utilized throughout this trying and troubling time is what is really important and I hope that people recognize how big of a part that the hospital plays in those partnerships,” said Kutscher.
The update was part of GRMC’s annual budget presentation made during Tuesday’s meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court.