Last year was another good year for United Hospital District in Blue Earth.

For the second straight year, UHD posted an unaudited profit topping $2 million.

Financial figures released to boardmembers in February show a net income of $2.287 million. That’s more than the $552,000 hospital administrators had budgeted for.

“It will allow us to continue to reinvest in our facility. To assure the community we will have top-notch health care today and into the future,” says Jeff Lang, UHD administrator.

The hospital district currently is undertaking a major expansion and reconstruction project of its campus costing an estimated $15 million. Also, a new $4 million adolescent treatment center proposed in Winnebago is on the drawing board.

“We will put a substantial amount of equity — cash — into the projects,” says Lang.

For 2008, gross revenue totaled nearly $33.72 million. The net operating revenue for the year was $23.542 million.

Lang says the quality of care at UHD ranks high nationally, being in the 97 percentile in emergency room and inpatient care satisfaction.

“Any hospital or health care system would love to have our 97 percentile,” he says. “There were only 3 percent of the hospitals nationally that were higher.”

In an effort to improve health care services, the hospital district is conducting a survey to determine how people use medical services in the area.

In the next several weeks 400 households will be randomly selected to complete the survey.

Attaining the ‘satisfaction benchmark’ was good news for the hospital’s 243 employees. Under a prog-gram implemented in 2007, all received a $100 end-of-the-year pay incentive.

Meanwhile, reaching the $2 million profit mark may mean a bonus for Lang.

Under an executive incentive compensation plan, the hospital administrator was given a bonus of $8,594 last year. Of that amount, $3,125 was for exceeding a ‘stretch’ net income standard of $2 million set for 2007.

Boardmembers at their March meeting are expected to discuss Lang’s annual performance evaluation.

Last year, the board identified the administrator’s areas of strength and those where improvement could be made. The board approved a 5.5 percent increase in Lang’s annual base salary — from $125,000 to $132,000. He also was eligible for an incentive pay potential of up to 10 percent of his salary.