Flint Hills Community Health Center will operate this year with a slightly smaller budget than it had for last year — and there’s a reason for that, according to Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Ringgold.
That reason: less emphasis on contracts, including credentials and privileges as well as building maintenance.
Ringgold tells KVOE News the 2020 budget will be about $300,000 smaller than the 2019 version, but aside from contracts, other budget items will remain static from last year.
Ringgold says the Health Center is on track to enter new ground financially when the final 2019 numbers are announced at the January board meeting.
Ringgold says the financial turnaround plan, which the Health Center began in August 2017, decreased the overall budget by $1 million since it was enacted with a year-over-year zero-based budgeting approach as its model. It has also positioned the Health Center well for financial growth and stability, she says, after administrators debated whether to close the facility due to financial hardships that year.
The Health Center will transition from the turnaround plan to a long-term strategic plan Sept. 1. Ringgold says the turnaround plan was largely based on finances, while the long-term plan deals more with Health Center goals across the board.
