Hospital board approves budget amendment

Tuesday evening, the Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees approved an amendment to the capital budget.Chief Financial Officer Shelly Larson said budget amendments typically happen this time of year.

Larson explained there was a surgeon’s headlight budgeted at $25,000, and was reduced to $3,000, reflecting a doctor’s preference for a light which comes in at a much lower cost. Also, a neoprobe was removed from the current year budget; the device, used in breast biopsies, comes at a cost of $51,800.

It was later noted the neoprobe is typically used only about once per year.

Though the adjustments result in a total savings of $73,800, Larson noted there’s a desire to obtain a STERRAD® sterilizer, which uses methods such as low temperatures and gas plasma to sterilize instruments as opposed to steam. The sterilizer costs $57,710 and is portable. CEO Margie Molitor noted there are some instruments which cannot be put in a regular steam sterilizer.

Overall the capital budget is reduced by $16,090, from $980,316 to $964,226.

In other financial action, the board accepted and engagement letter with Koerwitz, Michel, Wright & Associates, to provide services regarding an audit for the current fiscal year and preparation of IRS Form 990, which is required for 501c3 non-profit entities. The hospital is both a governmental entity and a non-profit.

The cost range for the audit is $27,000-$29,500, and the cost for the form preparation is $1,600. The prior year, $27,500 was paid for the audit, and about $1,500 for preparation of Form 990.

Board member Dave Koerwitz pointed out his name does still appear on the firm, but he has had no association with it for the past two years, and no personal financial interest in accepting the letter for their services. He chose to abstain from voting on the letter, as well as the board’s approval of the Form 990 review.

As for the regular financial reports, Larson stated the number of accounts receivable days is at 45 compared to about 53 last month. She said it was a great month for collections, with just under $1.5 million. Even with the collections, however, she noted the days with cash on hand did drop by one, which is primarily due to there being three payrolls last month.

In other action, the board approved the hospital’s “no smoking” policy. Molitor pointed out this was not a new policy, but it was revised and will be enforced starting May 1. She said concerns were heard from patients and staff about people smoking just outside the hospital doors, and the policy was re-written to include the parking lots and grounds as “no smoking” areas.

What this means for employees is they will have to leave the campus to smoke, which also means they will have to clock out at those times. The policy also includes smokeless tobacco for employees.

Visitors and patients will also be informed they are a non-smoking campus, and physicians will be able to provide smoking cessation materials such as nicotine patches if needed.

Concern was raised concerning Gottsche’s campus and employees going there to smoke, and Molitor pointed out Gottsche already has a smoke-free campus.

Also at the meeting, Molitor reported the quality meetings and patient care meetings are working well. She pointed out there was one tracer, which was identifying nutritional consults on patients. She further explained there were patients who should’ve had nutritional consults which were being missed, but the issue has been corrected. A tracer, she noted, is when a process is looked at to determine if it’s working properly.