Increased numbers in its surgery department helped Texas County Memorial Hospital earn its fifth consecutive month of positive financials, board members heard at last week’s monthly meeting.

Through September, TCMH surgeons have already performed 261 more procedures than this time last year. The gain was attributed to the late summer addition of Jason Loden, DO, the newest general surgeon at the hospital.

“Through the month of September, the surgery department has already performed 10 more procedures than all of 2017,” said Wes Murray, TCMH chief executive officer. “That’s a 37 percent increase, which is fantastic for our small rural hospital.”

Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer, reported outpatient revenue was higher than anticipated for both August and September. Overall revenues were up $310,724 from our budgeted expectations in August and $438,001 in September. Inpatient volumes were down $160,685 in August and down $21,749 in September, Pamperien said, but outpatient revenue was up $592,352 in August and $458,641 in September.

“It is very encouraging to see that our outpatient departments continue to grow in volume despite the fact that we are not even in the middle of cold and flu season yet,” Pamperien said.

TCMH ended September with a positive bottom line of $43,977 and a reduced year-to-date loss of $191,162.

“We’ve been on a winning streak for the last several months now, and we anticipate a strong finish into the end of the year,” Murray said.

TCMH PURSUING PURCHASE OF MERCY PROPERTY

Murray said the hospital is participating in discussions with Mercy to purchase the existing clinic building and property in Houston. Murray told the board retaining the facility’s two doctors –– Tricia Benoist and Matthew Brown –– was the top priority and taking ownership of the facility was the next move.

“Hopefully that will get wrapped up quickly,” Murray said.

Murray introduced Brown, who specializes in family medicine and obstetrics, to the board. He signed a four-year contract with TCMH in September that goes into effect Nov. 15 –– the day after Mercy Clinic in Houston permanently closes.

“I look forward to continuing to build upon the relationship that I have established with TCMH over the last seven years that I have been serving the community,” Brown said. “I believe this will be a great partnership for all of us, but most of all, our patients will still be taken care of.”

CID PUBLIC HEARING

Murray told the board the Houston city council has called for a Nov. 5 public meeting to discuss the proposed Community Improvement District (CID) that if passed, will benefit the completion of the TCMH surgery center. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Houston Storm Shelter.

“We had certainly hoped to be able to complete the surgery center this year or by early 2019 at the latest,” Murray said. “However, funds are limited and when we learned that Mercy was making plans to exit the community, our priorities shifted to do whatever we could to retain Dr. Benoist and Dr. Brown, which also meant we really needed to purchase their existing property.

“We always try to make the best possible decisions to benefit our community and retaining two, excellent doctors who want to live, work and raise their families here is a win for TCMH and a win for our community,” Murray said. “Completion of the surgery center definitely needs to happen as a part of our master plan to provide better patient care, but we need the help of our community partners to make it happen. Developing the CID is a way for local business owners, area residents who choose to shop in Houston and our own employees to partner together with us to show support for their local hospital.”

The current TCMH surgery department was built more than 40 years ago and has received few updates, Murray said. Completing the new surgery center is one of many steps that will keep TCMH moving forward with the ever-changing advances in modern healthcare.

“Our community is very fortunate to have this hospital here to offer healthcare services to our area residents, and our goal is to work hard each day to make sure that Texas County Memorial Hospital is here for years to come so many generations beyond us, can still have great healthcare close to home,” Murray said.

Present at the meeting were Pamperien; Murray; Doretta Todd-Willis, chief nursing officer; Rachel Davis, director of public relations; Amanda Turpin, quality director; board members, Jim Perry, OD, Omanez Fockler, Janet Wiseman and Mark Hampton; and guest William Mahoney, CoxHealth representative.

Jonathan Beers, DO, chief of staff, was not present.