The new CEO of Erlanger at Hutcheson sounded a positive not this week saying he expects the hospital's finances to "stabalize over the coming months. Roger Forgey said the hospital has cut $800,000 in monthly expenses since late 2001. He gave the hospital's staff a pat onthe back for their efforts to turn the ailing hospital around. He said significant improvements in operations and expenses are being made, but they are overshadowed by billing and collection issues. A government mandated  change has given the hospital headaches in teh process of collecting millions of dollars it is owed. That has required a draw on the Fort Oglethorpe hospital's line of credit from Erlanger in order to maintain cash flow. The CEO said those issues are being addressed. An advisory committee to the board is working with hospital administrators to resolve issues with the billing software and to implement a new electronic medical records system as required in the new federal standards. Forgey said the hospital's monthly financial statement would have read much differently in recent months, if the billing and collections issues had not occurred.