Hospital Board hears various reports

At the November Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board meeting, in the growth report, CEO Margie Molitor said they do have their rapid testing machines running locally and in their other clinics. She noted that if a person is still symptomatic with COVID but testing negative, they will still send their tests to the state for analysis to make sure.

Molitor also reported they have their bio-fire, a big machine that they have been waiting for, and it will be installed next week from the time of their meeting. This machine will give an accurate test result within 45 minutes. This will enable them to not need to do verifications with the state. Molitor said, “This will be very helpful.” 

Molitor reported that the CT and X-ray machines are done and the physicist was here to check out the equipment and make sure it was working properly. The new lab should be finished by December 10. The kitchen should be done by the middle of December. Molitor said that if everything keeps tracking, they should be done by the end of December so that they can utilize the COVID funds of $1.4 million. 

On the orthopedic front, Molitor said Dr. Lee is moving to Aspen, Colo., and had his last surgery done recently. He will be coming once or twice a month back to the local area to do surgeries. Molitor said they have plans for his replacement.  

Molitor said regarding COVID, they have seen increased activity in the clinics, especially in testing. She added, “It is definitely a challenge and we are seeing it all over in Wyoming and Montana. It’s a real challenge for staffing because if your staff gets sick you are in a world of hurt.”

“Our biggest concern is we want to protect our workers,” she added.

Molitor went on to report that Cheyenne, Casper and Billings hospitals are full. “What this means, even if we are not full but we have a critical patient, it makes it very difficult for us to find a bed if we need to transfer a patient. It might not necessarily affect you from a COVID perspective, but if you have a heart attack or a stroke or a major trauma, it’s harder for us to find a bed to ship you to.” 

The hospital renewed their employee group health benefits under United Health Care via its benefits committee presentation. Their rates increased slightly this year, but much less than expected and have minor changes. Their premium increase was approximately an average of 5.3%, which includes employee contributions and employer contributions. The cost to see their primary care specialist is much less. The board voted and accepted the new benefits.

In the medical staff report, Dr. Hallie Bischoff said they revisited their COVID patient visitor policy due to a recent incident. With the increase in COVID cases and the hospital having patients, there were concerns about handling visitors who are family members. They want to set expectations and communicate better by having their policy written out.

There is also concern about their OB policy for visitations. Their updated policies will be rolling out soon, and they will see if it works or needs to be changed. The OB policy is not different from what they have been doing, but it is now on paper. They will work on communicating that information. 

In the quality report, Nina Landis said their inpatient and ER scores went up tremendously. Landis wanted to encourage their staff that the things they are doing are important and do matter.

In their hospital compare report, which includes Thermopolis, Worland and Cody, most of their metrics were about the same from six months ago. For their prescription reconciliation, their score was 82% for the month of October, which brought them to 77% year to date, which is their goal. 

In the financial report, Shelly Larson said in October their accounts receivable increased by one and a half days.

There was one week in October where they were not receiving payments from Medicare. They found out there was a claim stuck in their accounting system that was blocking payments from being generated. They were able to get that issue resolved.

They saw a huge decrease in their accounts receivable again, which Larson said was a good thing. Their days of cash on hand decreased slightly, primarily due to purchases of equipment and payments on the construction. 

Larson also gave their cost report, which was due for the fiscal year of June 30, 2020. The cost report was prepared by Eide Bailly. This year they will have a receivable of $711,000.

Larson said, “This is primarily due to a decrease in our volumes and with slightly higher increases in our costs.”

They also booked an additional receivable of $560,000 and will book $151,000 in last year’s statement. The board voted and passed to accept the cost report. 

In new business with the election of officers, the board passed a motion to make no changes to their officers’ positions and also passed to keep the assignments the way they are.