Robert Whitaker, chief executive officer of Hill Regional Medical Center, reported to the Grant County commissioners on April statistics, financial results and upcoming governance actions.

Whitaker said April volumes across the hospital were higher than one year earlier, with gains in admissions, deliveries, swing-bed admissions and outpatient visits but a slight decline in some specialty clinic visits. For April he reported approximately $8.9 million in operating revenue and $8.7 million in operating expenses, producing a monthly surplus of about $500,000 when excluding certain state programs. Year-to-date operating revenue was about $85 million compared with $78.4 million a year earlier; Whitaker said year-to-date net included $2.7 million in SB161 funds and $9.6 million in HDAA funds.

He reported days cash on hand at roughly 1.27–1.28 (operating cash only, excluding investments and CDs). The hospital board approved its ISEP and is preparing its capital and operating budgets for presentation and approval at the board meeting on July 2; the board recently moved regular meetings to the first Wednesday of the month.

Whitaker said the hospital is planning a staff and family picnic in July at Penny Park and that he is developing community town halls to reach residents across the county because not everyone can travel to Silver City. Commissioners asked about specialty care access; Whitaker said the hospital has recently hosted a visiting urologist and is negotiating contracts to expand specialty outreach, and that another urologist will make a site visit in July.

Commissioners thanked Whitaker and noted their support for the organization’s leadership; no formal board action was taken during the commissioners’ meeting other than receipt of the report.