Hospital board hears various reports

At the February Hot Springs Health board meeting held at the conference room, CEO Scott Alwin introduced their new lab director, Kylee Brink. Alwin said, “She’s been a faithful employee for several years and over the past year has shown dedication, growth, diligence and dedication to quality and improved performance in our lab. Additionally, she brought the laboratory through a successful Clia survey with monumental improvements compared to the previous surveys.”

Alwin added that he has restarted what they call new patient rounds. He said, “Which means every weekday I go down and I visit with all the new patients who have been admitted within the past 24 hours and visit with them about their stay and how their experience has been thus far.” Alwin related a female patient from Riveron who specifically asked to be transported to Hot Springs Heath, “because she knew that she would receive the best care possible.”

Dr. Mattson Mathey gave the medical staff report and said that in the critical care ICU, they are updating their order stats. They also have opted to do a hybrid approach and manage their alcohol withdrawal patients with a paper scoring, which is more accurate. They have been having some issues with Cerner in relation to those matters.

Additionally, Dr. Stephen Asay was formally appointed as the physician head of the Pharmacy and Therapeutic committee. This allows Dr. Hallie Bischoff to not juggle two committees at the same time. 

Dr. Mathey said in the OB committee there was some discussion about plans of safe care, which is a requirement for any pregnancy that is identified as high risk or with any potential illicit substance exposure. Dr Mathey added, “We do have to have a plan in place for any prenatal patients who have been identified as using illicit substances…If it does escalate to the point of having concerns about the pregnancy, then of course it would prompt an identified referral to the appropriate resources.”

Regarding the Rural Training Track program, Dr. Matthey said, “We are working on solidifying our rural training track applicant rank list, which we will submit early next month. And then on March 15, we should know who our our next resident will be.”

In the CEO report, Scott Alwin said, “First and foremost, I want to congratulate the Worland Clinic for earning the 2024 Lily Pad Award. That is an award that ranks every rural health clinic in the United States-based on their most recent Medicare cost report. It provides a comprehensive and objective assessment of rural health clinic performance that outperformed the rural primary care practice peers with a relationship to efficiency and operational excellence, and the Hot Springs Health Worland Clinic was recognized as one of the Top 50.”

Alwin continued and said, “We’ve made some modifications in the lobby for the purpose of being able to identify some space for a more specific emergency department waiting area. The location just across from the admitting desk between the desk and the restrooms right there inside the lobby. We’ve moved those soda machines over to the coffee bar area. All refreshments are along that one wall and then we’ve relocated some tables and chairs and tables and a few chairs for seating right outside the entrance to the emergency department. A much more appropriate location for people to wait when their family is receiving care in the emergency department, as opposed to what I consider the cubby right inside the emergency department doors where we keep a lot of wheelchairs.”

Alwin added, “There’s a scale there which has a direct line of sight to the trauma bays. And so we just didn’t feel like that was the best location for our patients’ families. We looked at relocating that waiting area just outside the doors to the emergency department, right next to the restrooms there, just inside the front doors.”

Regarding their retreat, Alwin said, “The venue for the 2024 strategic planning update retreat will be at the Holiday Inn in Cody, and that will be April 19-20.” They are still working developing the agenda. Some of the items they will address will be market analysis and specialty services. 

Alwin then did a brief review of their SWOT analysis where they will examine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This discussion will provide the board data and information that will go into developing their strategic plan. Alwin via Health Tech will provide a survey on March 8 to their directions, physicians, medical providers and the board to gain their input and brainstorm in the SWOT analysis. 

Dominic Symes, EVP of Staffing Solutions and Chief Revenue Officer of Health Tech added to the SWOT conversation and said, “The area that I would spend the most time on is opportunity, because that’s where everything comes out from strategic planning…All the thinking and the time spent should be spent on opportunities, otherwise sometimes you can get bogged down the wrong stuff.”

Alwin continued his report and said, “I’m happy to share that we’ve launched our year two of Service Excellence initiative.” This involves Hot Springs Health having their first year service excellence advisors now becoming mentors for the new advisors that they have appointed. Additionally, those ambassadors will also serve on the Oasis team as well as the lead teams that will help improve patient satisfaction, specifically going forward into year two. They have selected 10 new service excellence advisors. 

Interim CFO Gregory Brickner gave the financial report and said, “In January, the results we had a net surplus of $111,000 from net operating revenue of $3.3 million. That brings us to our fiscal year to date, a net surplus of $236,000 from net operating revenue of $21 million. Outpatient visits and inpatient discharges continue to trail prior year and last month. Growth in the ED business continues and we’re 15.6% above the prior year.”

John Gibbel gave the marketing report and described their flyers for the swing bed program. He also discussed a book for those patients once they enter the swing bed program. He also discussed their attendance at a blood draw at the school in Shoshoni where they had a table and discussed and answered questions. Gibbel said he was surprised at how many people came up to interact with them. He also reported that they came back and gave lessons on compression only CPR. He also said they are in the middle of designing materials for Dr. Fournier and their Bone and Joint services. They also completed the designs of their patient handbook and have been distributing them out. Gibbel and the board discussed creating a digital version for the email of the materials in addition to the hard copies.

Laura Budd from the Hospital Foundation gave her report and said, “One of the big things we’ve been working with in the foundation is board management, and to get the board moving forward with our strategic plan and establish a firm foundation for moving forward. Some of our own homework in this is how we’re looking at streamlining more of our processes, establishing some policies and procedures, modifying the bylaws to fit the current needs of the board and looking forward to the next five years or so. We’re finally at a point where I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress in that area and getting ready to move over with that.”

Budd continued and said, “The second thing I wanted to highlight was the foundation building, the building across the street from the clinic. I’m sure you’ve seen the trailers and the construction that’s happening over there. We discovered that building was in fact owned by the foundation because it was gifted to the foundation back in the early eighties. We decided to use that as an asset and renovate that building... It was [originally] offices and to renovate it to become two furnished apartments, which would be two bedrooms and one bath. The goal of this is to provide a continuous stream of income for the foundation and it’s really important for the hospital foundation board to give priority to hospital workers, the travelers, the students, the residents that come through that they emphasize that multiple times. So that’s what we will be targeting with that building. It’s really exciting that we’re moving forward with that. It’s scheduled to be completed by May 1. They’re moving quickly on it and it will be really nice to have it done.”

Regarding grants, Budd highlighted two grants. One was for the opioid funding that the county received. Budd said, “We met several times last fall to determine how that money would be divided. The county overall received about $67,000. The hospital will receive about $36,000 in reimbursable funds. This will be a variety of activities that will be in collaboration with other community organizations like the Prevention Council, Public Health, Safe Haven. There’s a lot of different parts involved with that. And one of the really exciting things for me is that I worked really hard to make sure that the activities we planned were in alignment with the hospital’s strategic plan. Also, the opioid treatment and addiction was identified as one of the top three items in that community health needs assessment. And so that was exciting for me to have that money coming into the hospital to help show our community where the hospital is doing to help in that area.”

The other grant Budd discussed was, “As a foundation, we received some funding from the Wyoming Community Fund for a program called Jump Start. The reason why I’m really excited about this is because I can see that this program is going to help our foundation grow exponentially. It’s going to provide training to help increase our donor base, to help with fundraising and donor strategies. I’ve met with them probably four times since the beginning of February, and it’s been a really, really positive experience and I’m really excited about it. So they will meet with me individually. We have an assigned fundraising coach for the foundation and they will meet with the board probably in a month or so to provide training and tell them what our plan is and help them develop that plan.”

Budd initially valued this at about $7,000 because they get to use their software for free, but then realized its value is probably higher because of the free consultation and board training they receive for an entire year.