To help analyze the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital’s swing bed program and outpatient specialty clinics, the hospital’s (King County Public Hospital District No. 4) Board of Directors approved an $8,500 contract with Wipfli, a business consulting firm.

Tom Parker, CEO of the Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, explained the work that Wipfli, which previously worked with the hospital to prepare annual cost reports, would be doing.

“We are asking them to do sensitivity analysis,” he said. “They provide a number of different scenarios of inpatient and outpatient volume, and then they help us to understand what the total expenses need to be in order for us to be financially viable under those different volume scenarios.”

“The complexity of cost-based reimbursement does make this a challenging project and that’s the reason we chose a firm like Wipfli, because what they’ll do is understand what the revenue impact is on different expense profiles. Every time we change our expense profile, it changes how much we get reimbursed.”

In discussion, commissioner Gene Pollard expressed concern that the hospital could not afford this expense.

Commissioner David Speikers echoed the same concerns but said that Wipfli’s services would be an important tool for the staff to increase their efficiency and savings.

“We don’t know what the savings are, but if we can keep on track every month, when we have a volume of 30 million a year … we could save potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Speikers said.

“In the predicament that we are at here, we are in the bottom of the ninth and our staff are asking to have another tool that they can use to help them.”

Parker also noted that the benchmarking tools previously approved by the board have been instrumental in cutting down on costs, and have generated savings far in excess of their cost.

While the board was generally in agreement, Pollard said he would still vote no.

“I don’t think we can afford these consultants left and right,” he said. “As justified as it might be, I plan to vote no on this and I hope you’ll tell Wipfli that the board is watching to make sure that this is an appropriate return of investment.”

The contract was approved 4-1; Pollard cast the only opposing vote.