COVID-19 cut in half Sonoma Valley Hospital’s April revenue

The recent spike in coronavirus cases in Sonoma County is not evident in Sonoma’s own hospital where patients testing positive to the virus remains low. Still, the virus has had a distinct impact on the hospital.

“We reviewed the April financials. Volumes were at 50 percent or less since March 20,” said Kelly Mather, CEO of Sonoma Valley Hospital.

The hospital reported the decrease in volume in April caused a loss of net revenue of about $2.2 million, said Ken Jensen, chief financial officer. It was offset, however, by funding from CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) the $2 trillion federal relief fund approved in late March.

The hospital received $1,149,084 in April then another distribution in May for $4,423,886, which will cover the continued loss of net revenue and increased COVID-19 costs, Jensen said.

A finance committee meeting held on Tuesday, May 26 discussed the draft budget for fiscal year 2021 and the committee has plans for another meeting on June 16, which will be followed by a joint board and finance committee meeting on June 23.

The hospital never experienced a surge in positive COVID-19 cases and as a result began recently to return to normal practices.

“We have slowly reopened services in May and next week we will be open for all services and procedures,” Mather said.

Since Sonoma Valley Hospital began testing for COVID-19 it has administered 484 tests. Of those, 13 patients tested positive for the virus, 453 were negative and 18 are pending, said Kelly Mather, CEO.

The hospital’s numbers do not reflect the testing conducted by the county.

More than 200 new confirmed cases were reported in Sonoma County over the past two weeks by county health workers, most of them involving transmission through close contact with an already infected patient, said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County health officer. At that rate it exceeds the rate county officials said would be a trigger point to prevent reopening additional businesses, Mase said. The new cases translate to 4.1 cases per 10,000 residents and the trigger number equaled three cases per 10,000.

Countywide 304 cases out of 530 are active COVID-19, with 222 recovered, according to the county’s tracker.

The number of patients in the county that need hospitalization has increased also, and two workplace outbreaks – an elder-care facility and a winery – may have taken place in Sonoma Valley.

Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.