By Jennifer Osborn

Courtesy The Ellsworth American

ELLSWORTH — Maine Coast Memorial Hospital celebrated another year of operating in the black at its annual dinner meeting Tuesday.

Board of Trustees Treasurer Rebecca Sargent announced that the hospital had an operating gain of $966,269 in the past fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Outpatient admissions were down for the year, suggesting patients are putting off tests and checkups because of the economy, Sargent reported. Inpatient admissions remained strong.

The state of Maine owes the hospital $10 million in unpaid Medicaid reimbursements, Sargent noted.

The hospital provided $8.5 million in charitable care, which was an increase of 19 percent over the previous year, said Sargent.

Outgoing Board Chairman Karen Stanley presided over the meeting, as interim Chief Executive Officer John McCormack was out of town on a trip that had been scheduled before he took the hospital post last July.

New Board Chairman Bob Merrill reported that the hospital is halfway to its goal of raising $5 million in a capital campaign for construction of the new emergency department.

The hospital has exceeded its goal of raising $1 million for the planned giving part of the campaign, thanks to Jack Frost, executive director of the Maine Coast Healthcare Foundation, Merrill said.

Hospital employees have pledged $185,852 and are well on their way to surpassing their goal of raising $200,000, Merrill said.

In other news, Merrill said Wednesday that the hospital’s branding campaign is still in the works.

“It certainly hasn’t been discarded at all,” Merrill said. “We’re slowing it down and we’ll be starting it up more at a later date.”

The search for a new chief executive officer began last month. It will probably be the first of the year before a new CEO is announced, Merrill said.

“We’re not going to rush the process,” Merrill said. “We want to make sure it’s the right person.”

The Board of Trustees has a few changes as a result of incumbents leaving and new members coming on. Sargent is the new vice chairman, Bob Williams is the new board secretary and Adin M. Tooker is the new treasurer.

Stanley, Rich Malaby and Dr. Sean Maloney have gone off the board. They were saluted for their long service.

Dr. Alan Nauss was named to the board, as was past board member John Edwards, who has recently returned from Texas, where he served as executive director of the State Bar of Texas.

In other business, John Lynch is the new chairman of the healthcare foundation board. Ruth Foster is a new foundation board member. Outgoing board members are Jim Donnelly and Brenda Cartwright.

Chief of Medical Staff Dr. Sean Maloney welcomed new physicians and staff, including Dr. Gale A. McCarty in rheumatology, pediatrician Dr. Margaret B. Rieley, urologist Dr. Martin Curlik, urologist Dr. Jeffrey Graham and Suzanne Norgang, certified nurse midwife, who joined Maine Coast Womencare.

The hospital employs 780 people.