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ALBANY, GA -- Phoebe Putney’s Finance Committee accepted the audit for fiscal year 2009-2010.

Accounting firm Draffin and Tucker presented Phoebe’s Finance Committee with the 2009 fiscal year audit. It looks like Phoebe’s finances are doing just fine- despite an unfavorable market last year.

The audit shows total assets at $589 million, a record investment of $113 million in community benefits, $390 million in liabilities, and a total profit margin of 4.8%. Phoebe also made a $90 million investment, which they borrowed to fund several projects. This investment caused the long term debt to jump from 40 to 52%.

And while hospital officials are overall pleased with the audit COO Joe Austin says they're always looking for ways to be more efficient in the future. "We know we have got to do a good job of managing our expenses in the future we did a pretty good job of that this year but if we’re going to maintain the mission of the hospital our job is to make sure were running a high quality organization because our goal is to attract more patients to this hospital," says Austin.

Figures connected to the purchase of Palmyra Medical Center were not in the 2009 fiscal year, we’ll have to wait until next year to see those numbers. Head over to Phoebe’s website for more information on the audit. The Phoebe Putney Board of Directors approved the accepted audit in a meeting a few hours later.

CEO Joel Wernick also talked to board members about the current hospital capacity and taking over Palmyra Medical Center. Wernick says there is a growing list of challenges they face while transitioning Palmyra into Phoebe. “The time line for doing that is growing longer than we initially thought and although we are going to be as prompt as possible it’s likely that this is all going to continue to transition into February,” says Wernick.

Phoebe has brought in an outside consultant to help with the transition.