Neighbors’ financial situation slowly improving

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE  —  The financial situation for the Neighbors of Dunn County, the county’s nursing home, seems to be improving somewhat.

The census at the Neighbors is up to 91 percent, said Steve Rasmussen, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board, at the county board’s February 15 meeting.

 Rasmussen also serves as chair of the Dunn County Board’s Neighbors committee.

The “mix” of payers at the Neighbors has improved as well, Rasmussen said.

The residents at the Neighbors are a combination of private pay, veterans, Medicare and Medicaid.

The number of veterans at the Neighbors is “above budget,” Rasmussen said.

The cost of taking care of someone residing at the Neighbors is $300 per day, but the Medicaid reimbursement is $200 per day, he said.

“That is a significant gap,” Rasmussen said, noting that Wisconsin is “dead last in the country for Medicaid reimbursement.”

The difference between Medicaid reimbursement and the cost to provide care is something that all nursing homes in Wisconsin are trying to reconcile.

Increased numbers of residents who pay more or who have higher reimbursement rates can make a big difference to a nursing home’s bottom line. 

Consider the fact that a nursing home with 50 Medicaid residents would lose $5,000 per day while a nursing home with 50 private-pay residents would break even. 

The Neighbors also has decided not to outsource dietary services, Rasmussen said.

When the idea first came up to outsource dietary services, Neighbors committee members expressed concern that the quality of the food would suffer, and they did not want the Neighbors to gain a reputation for serving lower-quality food.

Rasmussen also said that the Neighbors plans to “re-deploy” staff which would save $100,000 per year and that “homemakers” would be used for laundry services, to serve meals and to do light housekeeping.

The Neighbors now also has a marketing plan, Rasmussen said.

At the October 2016 Dunn County Board meeting, Rasmussen reported that a company out of LaCrosse had been hired to develop a marketing plan for the facility. The marketing plan was intended to increase the census so the facility would have more residents.

The Neighbors currently is seeking Requests For Proposals from companies to implement the marketing plan, which would include web design, Rasmussen said.

The budget for 2017 approved by the county board in November contained $14.9 million for the Neighbors of Dunn County.

The Neighbors suffered financial losses of $1.05 million in 2015 and $750,000 in 2014. 

According to financial statements for 2014 and 2015 issued by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP that are available on Dunn County’s website, in 2015, the Neighbors had an operating revenue of $11.64 million and expenses of $13.02 million.

In 2014, the Neighbors had an operating revenue of $12.34 million and operating expenses of $13.76 million.

In 2015, Dunn County subsidized the difference in operating revenue and expenses by approximately $900,000, and in 2014, Dunn County subsidized the difference by approximately $800,000.

The budget for the Neighbors in 2014 also included the last year of $500,000 in revenue from the additional tax levy that had been approved by Dunn County voters in a referendum five years earlier.

According to the budget summary published in the October 23, 2016, edition of the Dunn County News, the Neighbors had an ending balance of a negative $4.4 million for 2016.

The Neighbors started out 2016 with a beginning negative balance of $3.8 million.