Stephens Co. Hospital Gets Approval For Additional Personal Care Home Capacity

Stephens County Hospital now has everything it needs to maximize its capacity at its Clary and Wilkinson Centers.

On Monday, the hospital officially received approval from the state to expand its capacity for the two facilities to a total of 104 residents.

Hospital Administrator Lynne Anderson said the additional capacity accounts for six new suites built on at the Wilkinson Center earlier this year.

“We were previously licensed for 92 residents in the Wilkinson Center and the Clary Center combined and then we added the six new suites with the anticipation that there would be two people in those suites, so we were full and we had to, as part of that process, request from the state to add capacity,” said Anderson.

Anderson said this will allow them to fill bed space at the Clary and Wilkinson Centers very quickly.

“We have really been holding off,” said Anderson. “We had people that wanted a room and we were not able to let them move in yet because we were waiting for this approval to come from the state.”

The six new suites at the Wilkinson Center were completed earlier in the Fall.

In other news from Stephens County Hospital, the Hospital Authority reported on Monday that the hospital had a better month in October, but still suffered a loss for the month.

Anderson said gross revenue was up in October by eight percent and expenses are on budget, but reimbursements to hospitals continue to decrease, resulting in the loss.

She said that decrease in reimbursements is something all hospitals are experiencing.