PORT ANGELES — Washington’s hospitals likely will feel the force of the Legislature’s attempts to close the state’s $10 billion to $15 billion budget gap this session, a government affairs official told the Olympic Medical Center board.
“There is a lot our Legislature is dealing with right now, which makes it challenging for hospitals and health care when it is such a significant portion of the budget,” Chelene Whiteaker, the Washington State Hospital Association’s senior vice president for government affairs, said Wednesday.
Gov. Bob Ferguson also has proposed a 6 percent cut across most state agencies to help address the shortfall.
As a rural hospital, OMC would be exempt from some of the pending legislation, such as cuts to the Medicaid Safety Net Assessment Program or legislation (E2SSB 5083) capping payments to hospitals for treating those insured under the Public Employees Benefits Board and School Employees Benefits Board systems, Whiteaker said.
However, large hospitals that OMC partners with for referrals would be affected, she said, because OMC relies on them for delivering some types of specialized care.
OMC would be impacted by proposals increasing the state’s business and occupation tax rates and a payroll tax on wages of more than $168,600 a year. Ferguson’s office also has proposed cutting funding for outpatient facility charges at off-campus hospital-based clinics.
Heather Delplain, administrative director of human resources, delivered some good news, telling the OMC board that provider and non-provider hiring increased last year. Concurrently, the system’s reliance on expensive travelers — health care professionals like nurses who work under contract through an agency — steadily declined.
“Recruitment has been focusing on hard-to-fill positions and reducing the number of travelers,” she said. “A little over two years ago, in January of 2023, we had 79 sellers, and on Monday we had 20.”
Last year, 18 travelers became permanent employees as well; six travelers have agreed to join OMC this year, Delplain said.
With 1,636 employees, OMC is the largest employer in Clallam County.
Converting travelers into employees and continuing recruitment efforts is essential as OMC has seen an uptick in demand for services over the past three years, CEO Darryl Wolfe said. Even as it works to reduce the amount of contract labor, it has had to add travelers to keep pace.
The average number of patient days (14,241), surgeries (8,129), heart center procedures (29,323) and clinic visits (136,185) all rose in 2024.
The number of medical oncology procedures alone has increased 21 percent.
“In the emergency department, we’re up to over 27,000 visits and average about 75 patients per day,” Wolfe said. “Some days we’re over 100.”
Patients also are arriving with much more serious conditions, he said.
He reminded the board that nurses with OMC’s home health service deliver care to all of Clallam County — beyond the hospital district’s borders — to serve patients as far away as La Push and Neah Bay.
“We’re super proud of them,” Wolfe said. “They’re out there on the road every day, taking care of people across the county.”
He added: “We do a lot here across our organization and they’re all important, and we’re trying to protect all of this.”
OMC is exploring the possibility of a partnership with another health care system to address financial pressures it has said are rooted in chronic underpayment by government insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
