Hospital board approves resolution

Tuesday night during the Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees’ meeting, the board approved Resolution No. 4. This resolution, Chief Financial Officer Shelly Larson explained, authorizes on a preliminary basis the hospital to move forward with expenditures. She noted it allows the hospital to go back 60 days for anything not a preliminary and utilize funds from the bond issue, and allows the hospital to be reimbursed for preliminary expenses for the expansion and renovation project.

The board also approved a purchase of equipment for use in orthopedic surgeries from Arthrex in the amount of $130,176. Various discounts based on the purchase actually results in a savings of about $13,600, Larson noted. There is also a 30 percent discount on disposable supplies, and that savings can then be passed on to patients and results in about a $36,000 annual savings in costs. Purchasing the equipment also eliminates rental costs of $3,200 for the instruments.

Prior to approving the purchase, board member Dave Koerwitz said the board had to be alright with taking the money out of the hospital’s cash reserve, though he believes the benefits of purchasing the equipment would be worth it. Larson pointed out the hospital has paid out $1.1 million in construction expenses that it will receive back.

Larson also noted the hospital is hitting a record with respect to gross revenue, up 57 percent for the first three months of the fiscal year compared to the previous, which she credited to a busy summer and fall.

Also during the meeting, it was reported Mattson Mathey, MD started Oct. 15. Hospital CEO Margie Molitor said this means the hospital is at full staff with providers. She further noted that on the recruiting front there is a full RN staff.

Molitor noted Director of Diagnostic Imaging Daryl Mathern, after 34 years with the hospital, is moving to more of an “as needed” basis. Molitor commended Mathern’s work on getting equipment for the hospital at great prices.

Also, Molitor is working with Central Wyoming College so the hospital can be used as a training site for their nurses and potentially medical assistants

Chief of Staff Dr. Vernon Miller reported there has been good work in following the 96-hour rule, in which patients are appropriately documented for their 96-hour stay, under federal guidelines. Miller also reported an upswing in obstetrics, and it’s delightful to see the number of babies being born at the hospital.

Miller also reported cardiac rehabilitation will be available Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with Hallie Bischoff as the director. He noted the exercises are monitored by certified staff. There is also work being done with the dietary manual to make it more appropriate for special needs patients and as palatable as they can.

Having recently attended a conference with the College of Surgeons, Miller reported there is an ongoing discussion regarding fewer general surgeons. About 90 percent of general surgical residents go on to do a fellowship, he said, and want to specialize in one particular area, which limits their skill set to be utilized in a rural setting. There are some programs, he said, that emphasize rural surgery.

Miller has been in touch with program directors from other hospitals to arrange some rural surgical rotations for their residents to come here, and combining that with having family practice residents here on a regular basis, he sees it as a win-win situation.

An estimated 155 critical access hospitals have already closed in the last few years, Miller said, and of those that are still open — around 1,400 and 1,500 — about a third have financial difficulties that are making it difficult to stay open. Hot Springs County Memorial, he noted, is ahead of the game and Tuesday’s groundbreaking is emblematic of that.

In her Quality report, Nina Landis said the hospital’s scanning rate for September was 71.4 percent, just under the goal of 72; scanning rate for the year to date is 68 percent. Medicare re-admissions are at 17 percent, Landis said, and she would like to see that number go down.