Hospital reports second round of COVID vaccines

At the January Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board meeting, in the growth report, hospital CEO Margie Molitor said they just started their second round of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for 80 employees and also 13 people from Gottsche and the dental clinic. Molitor mentioned their work with the Public Health Office and getting people who are 70 years and older to get vaccinated. She added that they are waiting for more doses to come to them. She said, “As it comes in, Public Health has a waiting list. Hopefully, we will get that out quickly.” 

For orthopedic care, the providers are picking up the pace and provide a weekly presence for this care. On February 8, the new mammal-logic 3D machine which helps in tomography. New patients for this machine will start on February 23. Molitor added that many things are in motion and they are tying up loose ends to get completely settled. “We are trying to get the final touches on everything,” Molitor said they are preparing loan documents with the USDA. The project approved by the USDA will be completed by mid-March.  

For the Rural Track Training program they have narrowed down some resident candidate applicants after recent interviews and there will be site visits coming up. They have about five to six excellent candidates 

In the medical staff report, Dr. Hallie Bischoff said they are tracking new directive measures for trauma. Examples would be how long it takes for transfers, getting patients admitted, and dealing with injuries. She said that emergency medical services are doing much better in their documentation with more details and accuracies. 

Bischoff also mentioned a program called WyFi, which is a new chart system that is used around the state for sharing hospital data for the administrations. If a patient has been admitted to a facility and then goes to another facility, their information can be found in the database in participating hospitals. Bischoff said this, “can help take care of patients better and help with reconciliation and make sure that when they get discharged from a Wyoming medical center, we know what medications they are on. We have all those notes and information.” Bischoff says that WyFi is an automatic opt-in for patients unless the patient says they don’t want to be when they get admitted. 

In the quality report, Nina Landis said that Miranda Nelson will be helping with Quality. Nelson will be reaching out to department heads to talk to them about their quality projects and ask them what they need or if they have any questions. For medication reconciliation, their score was 78% for the year up to date, which is higher than their goal. 

In the finance report, Shelly Larson said for December their days in account receivable measured at 48.02 days, which is a drop of one day from the previous month. Larson said, “We continue to see the hospital improve.” The day’s cash on hand was at 171 days, last month they were at 176 days, which is a five-day drop. Larson said she was “impressed that it didn’t drop more” due to three payrolls in December and paying expenses in connection with the SLIB Coronavirus project, which was over $750,000. They have not received reimbursement from this at the time. Larson said, “It was a tougher month. December usually is somewhat tough because of the holidays.” Larson also reported they do continue to utilize their COVID funds 

In new business, Molitor said that it is time for the board to do their strategic plan, which they do every three years. They will do some initial Zoom interviews in February with Julie Haynes and have the official meeting potentially on April 9 and 10.