West River Health Services

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450340688
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Hettinger, ND, USA
Phone
701-567-4561
Rating
70
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Hospital, General

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$32,377,804
Expenses
$31,519,766
Assets
$34,067,055
Liabilities
$2,466,393

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ALYSON KORNELE (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CATHERINE SHIREK HOULE (PHYSICIAN): $533,397 total reported compensation
  • JOSHUA RANUM (PHYSICIAN): $451,701 total reported compensation
  • MARK KRISTY (CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER/PHYSICIAN): $426,748 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To assist our neighbor in achieving and maintaining their highest level of independence in a caring and respectful environment

What it reported doing in 2024

West river health services (wrhs) is a nationally-recognized rural health care delivery system including a critical access hospital that provides many different services including acute inpatient services, swing bed, surgery, lab, radiology, emergency room, six medical clinics, eye clinic, visiting nurse services, ambulance service, counseling, and rehabilitative therapies including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.in fy 2025 wrhs provided acute care services to 406 patients for a total of 1,438 days of care. Swing bed services were provided to 66 patients for a total of 568 days of care. In addition, 319 equivalent days of observation care were provided. There were 1,750 emergency room visits during the year. There were 30 babies born during the year with a total of 47 days of care provided. There were a total of 733 surgical cases during the year, with 692 of those being done on an outpatient basis. The ambulance crew made 395 ambulance runs/transfers throughout the year and responded to 72 calls with no patients needing transport. There were 33,826 clinic encounters to the six medical clinics and 1752 eye examinations performed in the eye clinic. Ancillary services were provided as follows: 7,618 radiology tests; 23,765 meals to patients, visitors, and employees. Throughout the year there were 3,907 home visits by registered nurses.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 96% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of voting board members are independent.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 61
  • Accountability: 63
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.9%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 90.5%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.69 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 44.4%; rating input score 44; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.7%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.08; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.1%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 85.9% of revenue deployed · 90.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $28.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $533K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.9M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 44/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 19/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 24/100.