Hospital moves into new facility

Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital has moved into their newly constructed wing and is making the transition to be known as Hot Springs Health.

Jake Schrickling, project manager of Sletten Construction, reported on the effort that is still going on at the hospital. They have been preparing for the demolition of the old building and full tear down. It should take three weeks to get to the ground level, according to Schrickling. By the next hospital board meeting, the old patient wing will be gone. 

Schrickling also said that they are looking toward July 1 for constructing the new facade on the colonnade or new corridor to the front where the old wing was. He said, “You will see overall how the facility is supposed to look. I am really excited about that.”

They will also start digging into the parking areas and make them ready as well, starting in the back area and work their way towards the front of the building. Schrickling said they were given a 60 day extension beyond their original plan for reworking the circular driveway. He added, “Now that we’re inside the building things become more difficult.” 

Margie Molitor gave her CEO report saying she gave eight tours in the second week of May. “They were well attended and we got great feedback.” The move into the new facility was accomplished on May 14 and 15. They had a one day delay because they worked on their license and how many beds they would have in the facility. Molitor applied for 15 beds for inpatient use.

They moved seven patients within the first 50 minutes after being approved. Other equipment and supplies were being moved and organized. Molitor said, “There’s less and less clutter and more and more organization.”  

An online virtual tour of the new facility has had over 3,000 views, according to Molitor. “It was well received,” added Molitor.

There have now been a few babies born in the new building.  

At the time of the hospital board meeting, Molitor reported that there are ten cases (confirmed and probable) of COVID-19 in Hot Springs County, and Washakie County has 33. Fremont County has 250. She also said to call into account the numbers of tests done. Fremont County has done 7,400 tests whereas Washakie County has done 449. Hot Springs County has done 89.  

Molitor said, “We are testing people who are symptomatic. Which is what we are supposed to do or test people who have been in contact with somebody. If you have more active cases, you’re going to do more testing. If you just look at the percentages of the amount of tests that have been done and the amount of tests that come back positive, Fremont Count is at 4%, Washakie County is at 7% and Hot Springs Count is at 10%.” Molitor said if you are experiencing symptoms that may be COVID-19 please do not hesitate to come and get tested.

Dr. Vernon Miller in his medical staff report said that they now have new protocols for infant births to make sure the security of the patients is in order.

He also mentioned for OB that they discussed having nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, to be administered during the birthing process to the mother to help with the pain. In a previous meeting, Dr. Miller said that some mothers prefer using nitrous oxide because they are able to control the administration of the gas. Dr. Miller said there is a protocol set up for this and the physicians are ready.

Twin births and protocols for that were discussed as well. 

They are also testing pre-operative patients for COVID-19 with the nasal swab. Dr. Miller said that those tests seem to be going well. “We are not trying to stop it. I don’t think it’s over. But we are trying to keep it a trickle instead of a flood.”

In the financial report, Shelly Larson said they received Medicare Accelerated payments of $4.4 million, which is a loan that has to be paid back within 120 days from receipt. They have one year thereafter to also pay back with no interest.

Molitor said, “Our goal is to not use it so we don’t pay it back down.”

The hospital received the Health and Human Services CARE Act funds in April of $633,000 and additional funds from CARE in May. Larson said, “April was a tough month from the perspective of the operating losses.”

The hospital also received funds from the Payroll Protection Program Loan. They have eight weeks to utilize those funds for payroll, benefits and utilities.  

The hospital also received a proposal for an auditor from Koerwitz, Michel, Wright & Associates for a fee to not exceed $35,000 and also another auditor $10,000 because of receiving all the federal funds.

Larson said to expect more work for auditing because of the added federal funding and adding the two new medical clinics. The audits will take two weeks in October. The board voted and approved to accept the proposals. David Koerwitz, a member of the board, abstained in the vote.  

Larson also presented the proposed budget for 2020-21. It was based upon the financial data of income and expenses from July through December 2019. It was annualized and adjusted for charge rate increases and changes in volume.

The budget was prepared with an assumption of a 10% decrease in their volumes for the first six months and then resume to normal volume utilization.  The total operating revenues are projected to increase at 7% primarily because of two new clinics and the rate increases as they have planned. Their clinic gross revenue will increase at well over $3 million dollars since the hospital brought them on board. The total operating expenses are expected to increase by 9% over the previous, current year. Most of the expenses are being impacted by the two new clinics. They also did not budget for any overtime. The budget will be approved in July.