Hospital has new acting chief financial officer

At the December 19 Hot Springs Health board meeting, CEO Scott Alwin gave his report and said, “In reviewing the Organizational Chart, rather than replacing the Chief Physician’s Clinic Officer, we are adding a Chief Quality and Compliance Officer to the Executive Team. We will conduct interviews within the week.”

Alwin also said CFO Kevin Benson departed from his position on December 8. His replacement, Gregory Brickner, as Interim CFO, began on December 11. Alwin added, “We are adjusting the organizational layout of the Finance Department to ensure successful completion of financial goals. We will provide you with an updated organizational chart for your review.”

During the financial report, Interim CFO Gregory Brickner introduced himself to the board. Brickner said he has worked in large hospitals, small hospitals, metro markets and rural areas. Brickner did not have the November results available at the time of the meeting. Both the November and December results will be reported on in the January board meeting. Additionally, Brickner said that their audit results will be presented then too. 

Brickner also said, “We have a draft of the financials from the auditors. I have asked them to allow us to make one additional entry, which would be an adjustment to the estimate that we used to calculate net patient revenue, and that’s changing the method of the estimate. I’m just improving some of the variables that go into the calculation. If the auditors accept, by my adjustments, it will result in a significant change to the financials for June 30, for the last fiscal year. But I have no reason to believe that they won’t accept it. But it’s possible that they could not.”

The board voted and passed the approval to table the audit until January.

For the marketing report, John Gibbel said that they sponsored the Special Olympics, where they had a regional contest in Worland. Gibbel added, “Which was a great opportunity…They’ve got a whole new structure going on and I learned about it through the children’s school. So I reached out to them and we were the only ones who had a banner.” Gibbel described how he participated in playing bocce ball with the kids and that “incredible experience,” and “I am looking forward to participating in more of those events as we get a chance with the Special Olympics.”

Additionally, Gibbel reported that he and Dr. Beth Keller participated in the Truck or Treat in Shoshoni, where they gave out over a thousand pieces of candy. Regarding Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Gibbel said they had a table with items on it and that they designed a special shirt with a distressed plan and little pink skeletons on it. They sold over 30 shirts to hospital employees and other guests at the hospital. The money will go to help support the event in the next year.

Gibbel also said they updated the advanced directives booklet with some legal changes. This booklet helps the patient direct healthcare givers on what to do should they be unable to communicate. It has been distributed to all the clinics in the hospital.

Regarding the Christmas Tree Festival, Gibbel reported they raised over $15,000. This is their only fundraiser. The hospital does the festival fundraiser with Pinnacle Bank to make sure that the money can all go back to the community. Gibbel added that 100% of the money goes back to the people of Thermopolis.

Gibbel also described that they are beginning to promote their new Swing Bed Academy program. He said, “Everyone has been very happy the first week in the program. We have a lot of good things to look forward to as we keep growing that program.”

Regarding the Lab Well program, their new schedule is Tuesday through Thursday from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m.

CEO Scott Alwin reported on growth and said, “As John alluded, we have launched the Swing Bed Academy, the Five-star Academy program. We have a target goal by the end of the school year to reach an average daily census of 1.9 or 2 for our swing program. Right now we’re sitting at 1.0….In November, we did have a little bit of an increase. So we’re hoping to see that trend upward.” 

Alwin added, “The clinics are looking at hitting a target of reaching a goal of around 5 to 6 Medicare annual wellness visits a week. That was a component of our community health needs assessment.” Hot Springs Health has hired a chronic care management coordinator who has facilitated the Medicare annual wellness visits. They are averaging one to two a week. Alwin added, “The physicians are starting to see the benefit of that and supporting that program as well.”

In new business, the board voted and passed the approval of their employee health insurance, which had a slight increase in cost by 3.5%. They also voted and passed the approval to table the board’s assessment to January, when all members will be present and available.