MOSES LAKE - Samaritan Healthcare and the Confluence Health clinic in Moses Lake plan to hire as many as five new surgeons by the end of the year.

Hospital CEO Tom Thompson included that in a report given to Samaritan Healthcare board members before their last meeting. Surgical services at the hospital and the clinic are growing enough to require more employees, Thompson said. Surgical nurses also are being hired, and the hospital is working on fixing up a fourth operating room, he said.

In other business, Chief Financial Officer Tom Legel reported the hospital turned a net profit of $1.3 million for the first two months of 2014. That's above the budget target, Legel said. Total operating revenue (the money generated by patients) was about 1.7 percent below the budget target, but operating expenses were 5 percent below budget projections, he said.

Thompson said the key to profitability has been controlling costs. Reimbursement hasn't improved, so the hospital has to monitor and control costs to stay in the black, he said.

Thompson will take over management of Samaritan Clinic as well as the hospital, he said. He will replace Kevin Dustin, who was the clinic manager but took a job in Utah. How long he will act as clinic manager is still to be determined, he said.

Hospital officials are reviewing a contract with the University of Washington medical center for tele-stroke services, Thompson said. The service would allow doctors in Seattle to evaluate patients in Moses Lake.