The Texas County Memorial Hospital board of trustees approved 2015 capital and operating budgets this week that includes funds to complete the surgery department connected to the new tornado safe room.
The $752,176 capital budget is a slight increase from the 2014 capital budget. Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer, said some of the bigger purchases include a new ambulance ($100,655), cardiac rehabilitation telemetry monitoring system ($41,820), two blood gas machines with a computer and related interface ($34,630); a monitor and defibrillator for the emergency department ($23,469) and an obstetrics department ultrasound machine ($20,000).
Through in-house work and bid collection for the various components needed to complete the in-fill of the surgery department shell, TCMH projects $740,000 is needed to finish the interior portion of the new surgery department.
“We plan to use donations to complete some of the work in the department,” Pamperien said, “And we have budgeted $135,000 in our capital budget this year to put toward some of the work we need to complete in the department.”
Board members also approved the 2015 operating budget that projects gross operating revenue of $69,163,906 and net operating revenue of $30,359. TCMH anticipates an increase in hospital expenses such as utility and food costs. The operating budget does not project growth in inpatient, outpatient or emergency room volumes.
“We will most likely see an increase in our contractual adjustments in 2015,” Pamperien said. The contractual adjustment is the difference between the hospital charge and the portion of the charge covered by insurance.
The state legislature’s inaction regarding Medicaid expansion continues to negatively affect TCMH.
“We continue to operate very lean,” Pamperien said. “But we are more fortunate than many other facilities. Our accounts receivable and cash flow are very good.”
According to a new report compiled by the Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) from hospital data available through the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) and other nationally recognized sources, TCMH continues to be a leader in the delivery of care to patients.
“In overall delivery of timely and effective care, TCMH scored 97.54 percent,” said Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH. “Hospital data consistently shows that TCMH offers very good care to our patients. The data shows that we are consistently providing high quality care, and that speaks volumes about the physicians, nurses and healthcare providers that work at TCMH.”
Murray said many people in the community are not aware of where TCMH ranks when compared to other Missouri hospitals.
“We’re not perfect, and there’s still room for improvement,” Murray said. “But I’m very proud of the efforts by our staff to continuously provide high quality hospital care.”
Additional information about hospital quality, hospital investment in the community it serves, healthcare costs and preventable hospitalizations is available at the MHA website http://focusonhospitals.com. Resources, reports and comparison data are available to the public at the website.
NEW DESIGNATION
Doretta Todd-Willis, TCMH chief nursing officer, reported to board members that TCMH is pursuing designation as a Level IV STEMI (ST segment elevated myocardial infarction) facility.
“The STEMI designation will allow emergency medical services to bring any patient with symptoms of a heart attack to TCMH where we can proceed with protocols and begin medical treatment to prevent cardiac muscle damage,” Todd-Willis said.
After the initial medical treatment at TCMH, the patient would be transferred to a healthcare facility where interventional cardiology is available.
“We have had chest pain and heart attack protocols in place for several years,” Willis said, “The designation will include focusing on community education, data collection and submission and patient follow up.”
Board members unanimously agreed to support the application.
RECRUITING EFFORTS
The hospital continues recruiting efforts for an additional full-time family medicine and obstetrics physician, according to Joleen Senter Durham, director of physician recruiting at TCMH.
TCMH plans to base the physician out of the TCMH Medical Complex in Houston offering a satellite clinic in Mountain Grove.
“We have restructured the services we provide in Mountain Grove,” Durham said.
William Wright, M.D., is currently seeing patients in Mountain Grove. Wright has been providing family medicine care in Texas County since 2002.
Tracey Arwood, CNM, is also providing women’s health and obstetrical care in Mountain Grove.
The search for an additional mid-level provider for the Mountain Grove clinic is also underway.
“We have lots of patients to be seen, and we hope that by basing an additional physician in Houston, he or she will find an obstetrical practice opportunity at TCMH to be more enticing,” Durham said.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
The hospital reported 891 patients visited the emergency department in November, which subsequently affected inpatient and outpatient volumes at the hospital. The TCMH emergency room averages 1,000 patient visits each month.
The TCMH emergency medical services department also reported an 11 percent drop in ambulance runs during the month — shared by all four of the department’s bases.
“The emergency room is the driving force behind hospital inpatient admissions,” Pamperien said. “There is nothing we can pinpoint for the drop in emergency volumes, but it did negatively affect our overall revenues for the month.”
TCMH had a negative bottom line of $191,111 in November and a negative year-to-date balance of $765,243.
Present at the meeting were Murray; Pamperien; Todd-Willis; Durham; Dr. Shaun Flaim, chief of staff; and board members Omanez Fockler, Janet Wiseman, Mark Hampton and Russell Gaither. Board member Dr. Jim Perry, OD was not present.
The next meeting of the TCMH board of trustees is noon Tuesday, Jan. 27, in the hospital board room.