Centre Community Hospital is operating under a $138,000 deficit so far this fiscal year. But some local hospital officials, blaming the low reimbursement rate of Medicare for part of the problem, say deficit spending in the medical profession is becoming increasingly widespread.

"I think (deficits) are very common among hospitals any more," said Lance Rose, Centre Community Hospital's executive director.

"(The deficit) doesn't mean the hospital is running in the red . . . we are in fact running in the black," Rose, delineating deficit and debt, said of the fiscal year which began in June.

Rose said the first four months of the fiscal year are usually not the best revenue months for the hospital but added that the upcoming months should help offset the deficit.

Rose attributed the deficit to a 5 to 7 percent increase in operating expenses as compared to only a 1 percent Medicare reimbursement increase, and a slowdown in the processing of insurance claims.

"The amount of Medicare reimbursement has not kept up with the increase in costs," Rose said.

Rose said an increase in health care costs could occur as a result of the hospital's efforts to reduce the deficit. If costs were to increase, Rose said, the hospital would review all of its departments to determine where the largest losses were occurring, and base its increases accordingly.

Pozza agreed that deficit spending is a common problem. Philipsburg has had to raise health care costs to help decrease its deficit, he said.

Mark O'Neill, senior vice president of finance at the privately-owned Lewistown Hospital, said the institution "does not have a year-to-date operating deficit," nor did it have one last year. But O'Neill said Medicare classifies Lewistown Hospital as a rural referral center, giving it a higher reimbursement rate.

O'Neill said the rural referral center status is based on the number of admissions, the mix of physicians at the hospital, and the case mix -- how severe patients' illnesses are.

Without Medicare's special designation and higher reimbursement rate, Lewistown Hospital would probably be facing a deficit, O'Neill said.

Theodore Townsend Jr., vice president of public affairs at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, said Geisinger does not have a deficit this year, nor has it during recent years.

"We continue to experience volume growth, and believe we are a very cost-effectively run tertiary health care center," he said.

Townsend said Geisinger does lose money on Medicaid reimbursements but manages to avoid a deficit.