Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors met Nov. 21 for the monthly meeting.
All board members were present including Zach Moser, Dr. Leigh Ann Price, Frank Barnitz, Karen Brown, and Mike Swyers.
CEO Brooke Bollman gave a thorough report on cost reports, including several reallocations, unclaimed expenses, and the audit.
A long-term care survey was completed and showed a few administrative deficiencies. All of those have been corrected.
Training and compliance has been a large part of the month with chart audits and peer reviews.
• policies and procedures were reviewed and approved.
• annual compliance training was discussed.
• same day services has been a large topic, Bollman, mentioned. “We are kind of regulated with same day services. If they are elective, we can’t have those services on the same day. So if, you need six-month labs, those should be done a few days early. This is due to being a rural health clinic. The clinic and hospital are considered different entities, so when we have two claims for the same organization, that’s where the problem comes in. Then it isn’t reimbursable.”
Continuing in the report, Bollman detailed the summary of operations. Several numbers are trending upwards.
• inpatient census days were up, mainly due to an increase in swingbeds, 60 in Oct. compared to 45 in Sept.
• outpatient registrations were up.
• laboratory tests (6,947) were up from Sept. (5,969) and over Oct. 2023 (6,474)
• ambulance runs were higher, with 192 transports compared to 162 in Sept.
• swingbed revenue, emergency revenue, as well as outpatient, clinic, and ambulance revenue all showed increases over Sept.
Accounts payable is being whittled down, and now sits at around $1.2 million.
“Cash flow is still definitely negative. Of course, all the cash we are bringing in is going to accounts payable, so it looks positive. It’s important to put into perspective, that we are operating adversely lean in regards to staffing. We have less staff due to reductions and some quitting. Several of us are wearing multiple hats and several leadership positions are kind of waiting out to see what happens with affiliation (with Phelps Health),” shared Bollman.
“I know everyone’s always curious about the status of affiliation. Right now we are wrapping up the due diligence. Hopefully we’ll have more productive conversations in the next 30-60 days,” she said.
There have been some staff reductions in several areas of the hospital which has impacted the income statement, with salaries decreasing.
Year-to-date the hospital has about 21 days cash on hand.
Nursing Report:
• CNO Amber Hogan attended the Mid-MO EMS Administrator Coalition in St. James recently.
• Several nursing and radiology students are completing clinicals and shadowing throughout the hospital.
• EMS attended career day at Dent-Phelps and the Heroes Parade at North Wood.
• Ambulance re-licensure is due in December.
Human Resources:
• one full-time cook was hired.
• a clinic receptionist and medical assistant left employment, and one returned shortly after.
• a part-time dietary aide left, and the hospital is looking to replace that position with the department so lean.
Tabitha Stanfast reported on unofficial ratings for the hospital. Based on five responses out of 40 requested, the hospital was at 60 percent.
Stanfast is working on several projects for patient experience with an emphasis on registration. Accuracy of reporting, as well as phone routing and customer service training are high on the priority list.
Risk management was reported with zero injuries after 43 reports in the month of October.
Medical staff met and reviewed policies on Nov. 18.
New privileges were approved by the board for Matthew Parke (pathology); Pauline Bishop (teleradiology); and Rafay Ahmed (teleradiology).
A medical staff bylaw amendment was discussed. All board members voted yay, with Moser voting nay.
Banking account signers were discussed and then voted upon. Signers include Price, Brown, Moser, and Bollman.
The December meeting was set for 7 p.m. Dec. 23.
