Wishard aims to even it up

About half the bills Wishard Health Services used to send out came back sans payment thanks to an error.

Now that happens only 4 percent of the time, a change that saves millions, according to Wishard number-crunchers.

Improvements such as these might spur a multimillion-dollar turnaround

Wishard will attempt to break even by the end of 2005, a far cry from the $77 million deficit it registered in 2002. Analysts call the change remarkable, but Gutwein plans to keep the champagne on ice for now.

Federal aid cuts loom a couple of years down the road, and Gutwein said a possible year in the black "does not remotely mean we have smooth sailing ahead."

Wishard Health Services, which encompasses Wishard Memorial Hospital, outpatient clinics, Midtown Community Mental Health Center and the Lockefield Village retirement home, ended 2002 $77 million in the red and on course to sink past $100 million, Gutwein said.