Offbeat Oregon.. ............................................. PAGE 6 THS Softball............................................... PAGE 12
April 11, 2023
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“ Critical training It’s about preparing, as best we can, how to better respond to emergency incidents. Lt. Jeffrey Winn, Lincoln City Police
Mass casualty drill fosters trust, important safety skills JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.
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olice, deputies, fire crews, and medics converged on the campus of Lincoln City’s Occeanlake Elementary School responding to a multi-agency critical event, a drill to conduct specialized live and safety training. The drill, conducted April 1, focused on the triage and evacuation of injured persons at a mass causality incident. The See DRILL, Page 10
Serious condition: Red ink challenging Oregon’s hospitals A new report shows rising expenses, workforce shortages, and stalled revenue cratered Oregon hospitals’ operating margins in 2022, putting hospitals in one of the worst overall financial positions seen since 1993. Expenses have outpaced revenues for more than two years, or nine consecutive quarters. Hospitals’ median operating margin, which includes federal CARES Act funding, declined to -2.8% in 2022, compared to 3.2% in 2021 and 4.1% in 2020. The
data is part of a new Apprise Health Insights report illustrating calendar year 2022 financial results. The full report is attached to this story at thenewsguard.com. “After two years of losses, hospitals are facing extraordinarily difficult choices,” Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) President and CEO Becky Hultbeg said. “Organizations will struggle to remain sustainable in this type of environment.” Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital Chief Operating Officer Virginia Riffle said the medical centers in Lincoln
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Samaritan Health Services has worked diligently to balance our system resources against rising costs, staffing shortages and operational challenges so that we can continue to provide care for our communities.
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JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.
Virginia Riffle, Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital Chief Operating Officer City and Newport have been challenged. “The past few years and current market conditions have been challenging for health care systems across the country,” Riffle said. “Sa-
maritan Health Services has worked diligently to balance our system resources against rising costs, staffing shortages and operational challenges so that we can continue to provide care for our communities. To
that end, we’ve worked creatively to maximize treatment space within our hospitals, leveraged agency staff when needed and increased patient capacity by offering e-visits when appropriate. As a community-centered nonprofit system, our aim is to build a sustainable health system that is here to care for patients for generations to come.” By the numbers Rising expenses, especially labor, negatively impacted Oregon hospitals all year long. Labor expenses per FTE increased 26% over pre-pan-
demic levels. The health care workforce shortage contributed to rising labor costs. Meanwhile, total operating expenses rose 11% compared to 2021, exceeding net patient revenue (which also increased, but only by 5.8%) by $1.6 billion. At the same time, the inability to safely discharge patients to other settings continued to plague hospitals in 2022. Average length of stay (ALOS) was up 20%, and those longer stays often came with no additional reimbursement to pay for staff and other See MONEY, Page 10
Fire agencies to receive new engines, water tenders JEREMY C. RUARK Country Media, Inc.
North Lincoln Fire & Rescue, Depoe Bay Fire Rural Fire Protection District, and Tillamook Fire are expected to receive a new type 3 or type 6 fire engine, or a water tender to boost firefighting capacity. The Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) announced Courtesy photo from Rosenbauer awards for its $25 million EnRosenbauer is building the water tenders and type 3 engines. Skeeter is building the type 6 gine Program. Across Oregon, engines. 76 local fire service agencies
have been selected to receive the new equipment. Local fire agencies are eligible to apply. A selection committee comprised of members from the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association, Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association, and Oregon State Fire Fighters Council reviewed applications. Applicants were selected based on four principles: Assuring statewide distribution and allocation based
Police Blotter ............ 3 Opinion ...................... 5
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VOL. 96 NO. 15
See APPARATUS, Page 3
TheNewsGuard.com
WEATHER
INDEX
on local initial attack, regional mutual aid, and conflagration needs. Necessary infrastructure to maintain and protect the apparatus long term. Recent apparatus awards from the legislature and other legislative funding sources such as wildland-urban interface and omnibus legislation. The capacity to staff newly awarded apparatus.
TUE.
WED.
THU.
FRI.
SAT.
SUN.
MON.
45º/37º
48º/39º
48º/39º
53º/42º
58º/45º
62º/47º
57º/45º