PORT ANGELES – A ban on elective surgeries and procedures has cost Olympic Medical Center seven million dollars in the past month.
In March, Governor Jay Inslee ordered all hospitals to stop non-essential or non-emergency procedures in order to preserve hospital capacity in case of a surge due to COVID-19.
Locally, that has left Olympic Memorial Hospital averaging about half its normal hospital use count.
And OMC’s CEO Eric Lewis says it’s also left a big budget hole.
“We’ve lost about 40% of our revenue, which most hospitals throughout the state are down 40 to 50 percent. So in April, we’re projecting seven million dollars less revenue.”
Last week, OMC received a federal payment through the CARES Act in response to coronavirus. Lewis says OMC’s $5.9 million dollar portion of the fund to help hospitals deal with the pandemic helps.
And what’s next if OMC can start doing elective procedures again next month?
“You know there may have been a surgery that six weeks ago was was not emergent, but today it is emergent. So, we’re going to slowly be increasing the services we do from cancer screenings to surgeries to endoscopy. As the governor’s order changes, we anticipate that slowly being lifted in a logical safe way for our patients and our employees. We’re going to have to get back to normal operations at some point. Because our patients need the care and we want to be financially viable organization.”
The Governor’s halt to non-elective surgeries and procedures remains in place through May 18th statewide.