Hospital CEO answers questions about staffing at clinics

At the October Hot Springs County Hospital board meeting, Hospital CEO Margie Molitor said she has heard from “concerned citizens,” whether she is pulling providers out of Thermopolis to staff clinics in Riverton and Shoshoni clinics,

She said, “I want to be very clear, we’ve hired a whole other provider to do that for us. Tara Blumenshine is a Fremont country native and lives in Riverton, and that is who is covering the Shoshoni and Riverton clinics. We haven’t pulled any provider hours out of the Thermopolis clinic to cover those two clinics.” Blumenshine is a family nurse practitioner and a nurse-midwife. 

Molitor gave her growth report saying she had many all-staff meetings with nine meetings with about 83 participants. She said they “had at least ten new hires last month, which is exciting to see all those new people.” Molitor praised Dr. Mathey for his coverage of the orthopedic coverage planning. Molitor mentioned that there are several doctors requesting privileges to come and perform practice. These different doctors and their specialties “should cover all the bases” according to Molitor. She added that her long term goal is to have a full-time orthopedic recruit. They are actively looking for a new recruit that they would share with Worland. 

Molitor also said they now have the rapid testing machine in the clinic here in Thermopolis and also in the emergency room. Dr. Mathey filled in for Dr. Bischoff and gave a medical staff report where he said there were many new hires throughout the various clinics.

They also discussed the orthopedic coverage plan to continue care due to Dr. Lee’s exit from local practice. A variety of doctors in the general area were mentioned to provide care. Dr. Francisco from Lander is an option. Dr. Caldwell from Denver is another consideration. Dr. Lee is also looking for someone to fill his place as well. There might be a shared opportunity for orthopedic coverage between Thermopolis and Worland. 

One of the goals the medical staff has is with a medication prescription software, which is used as a reconciliation program. They have a goal of 77% and they are currently at 75%. The entire institution is working together with this program. Regarding construction, they have been using the trailer CT scanner and hope by November they can use their new CT machine in-house and up and running. There will be some dismantling of the x-ray and ortho rooms as well. There was some discussion with radiology and the clinics to make sure communications run smoothly. 

For clinics, they are expanding the Riverton clinic to two days a week from the one they have been doing. For the Shoshoni clinic, they are hoping to open it on January 2. 

For their learners, Dr. Mathey gave a residency update. They have over 300 applicants for their residency for 2021. He said there is still a lot of interest in their rural training track residency option. 

Nina Landis, in her quality report, added to what Dr. Mathey said about the prescription medication reconciliation program. There is more work to be done to reach their goal, and they are aware of the areas they need to improve on. They are looking into additional software to help integrate the pharmacy as well. Landis reported that COVID has been surging in the surrounding areas, with Billings being at 100% capacity. She said that 30% of patient admission was COVID. She said that when hospitals like them are full, it makes things difficult to transfer patients who are critical.  

Shelly Larson in her financial reported that their accounts receivable in September dropped slightly by two days, from 46 days to 44. She said they “continued to see a nice collection effort.” They are $1.8 million for total cash collected. They have two new billers that have 35 plus years of experience between them, which has helped significantly. Larson also reported that they have had a break-even month.