Health Care Corner
by Robert C. Harding, CEO, Sublette County Rural Health Care District
March 25, 2010
I would like to talk about what it costs to run the Rural Health Care District (HCD). As we presented in the Examiner last July, our budget is made up of several divisions. Let me simplify it into three areas: Salaries & Benefits, Operating and Capital expenses. Our total operating budget is about $14,000,000 a year. Of that $14mm, we spend about $10,000,000 on our employee’s salaries and benefits. Our operating budget is $3.2mm and our capital expenditures budget is almost $700,000.
We have 81 FT employees and 37 PT employees. Our EMS is made up of 61 FT, PT and Locums. A Locum is someone that fills in as needed. The rest of our employees are nurses, techs, physicians, etc. that staff both clinics. As I have mentioned before, we have a group of wonderful nurses and support staff that provide great health care 24/7.
To give you a better idea of why it costs so much to run the HCD, I have included below the starting hourly rates for some of our employees:
- Coders and Billers, $16.58
- Medical Records/Front Desk Clerks, $14.21
- Registered Nurse, $23.69
- Radiology & Lab Techs, $25.33
- CNAs and Lab Assistants, $14.21
- Housekeeping, $15.53
- Maintenance, $19.42
- EMS-Driver BEC, $11.71
- EMT Basic, $13.01
- EMT Intermediate, $14.46
- EMT Intermediate Advanced, $15.91
As you look at these numbers, let me remind you that our actual employee salaries are about $7,000,000. This doesn’t include the benefits we provide such as health insurance, etc. We have been reviewing our benefits, staffing and operating costs to see where we can save money and still retain such a high caliber staff. We are totally dedicated to Sublette County and our patients and we are optimistic about the future of healthcare in the county.
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