PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center is seeing a noticeable increase in patient demand to start the year, particularly in its clinics, where visits are coming in ahead of budget projections.
At a recent OMC Board presentation, interim CFO Dennis Stillman said some days are approaching 700 patient visits — a level they’ve been able to handle before — suggesting capacity is there, at least for now.
“But overall, we have the capacity to see more patients because we’ve handled almost 700 patients per business day in a few months. So we have the capacity to see more because we’ve seen more,” said Stillman.
That growth is also feeding into other parts of the system, including lab work, imaging, and hospital admissions, as more patients move through the pipeline of care.
Emergency room visits are also trending upward compared to recent years, continuing a steady climb that’s been building over time.
Still, hospital leadership is urging caution. The current data only reflects the first couple months of the year — not enough to establish a clear trend.
“It’s just two months. When we get to April, I will start saying now we have trends for the year.”
OMC has been working to stabilize its finances after a challenging stretch that saw declining cash reserves and ongoing pressure from rising costs and reimbursement rates that haven’t kept pace. Hospital leaders have said they’re aiming to rebuild cash on hand and return to more stable footing, but say that will depend in part on sustained patient volumes and revenue growth.