KINGMAN – The largest employer in Mohave County is losing millions of dollars each month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The loss for Kingman Regional Medical Center (KRMC) is largely associated with the Governor’s suspension of elective surgeries in Arizona.
“At this point we’re estimating about a 30% drop in revenue. That’s significant for us,” said Brian Turney, Chief Executive Officer for KRMC. “That equates to about $8-million per month.”
Turney said the hospital that employs more than 2,000 people has encouraged its workforce to burn vacation days during the outbreak. He said some employees are working under reduced hour structures.
Turney said KRMC is considering when it might resume elective surgeries to recapture lost business. The Governor has established provisions for institutions to perform the surgeries as soon as Friday, provided they meet established criteria.
Turney said decisions are difficult in this regard given the uncertainty of patient infection trends and when the peak will occur.
“There have been multiple projections about what is and isn’t going to happen in both the state and our county and a lot of them haven’t been right. There’s a lot of unknown factors here so I guess our job is to figure out how to be prepared,” Turney said. He said virus related issues will provide challenges for many months ahead.
“It’s going to be with us. Both as a hospital and as a community. We’re going to have to figure out how do we manage this without totally shutting down,” Turney said. “As a community and as a hospital, we can’t just not do anything.”
- Dave Hawkins
