Hospital board receives construction update

 


At the May 25 HSCM Hospital Board meeting CEO Margie Molitor said, “We are very excited, we are in the final stretch,” of their hospital construction. Planners and architects will be doing a final walk-thru of the property, anything not complete they will document that. Landscaping is coming up next. Molitor said they received a bid that was significantly less than what they were expecting when the project started. Details for landscaping will come next month. The bid came from SWI which has offices in Powell and Casper. They trimmed down what they wanted, keeping mostly rock and a few plants and trees. This change reduced the costs. 

The construction in the administrative area is almost done. The bathrooms are being made handicap accessible and they are waiting for materials. Molitor predicts this will be done in the next two weeks. 

Molitor also commented that they are almost done with their project because “it’s almost a horror story,” when it comes to construction costs. “We’re lucky to be at this part of the process and not somebody who is just starting. I can’t imagine trying to stick within a budget and getting what you need done.” 


They plan to finalize their USDA loan financing on June 9. They are also going to reduce their loan interest to 2.25%. 

The hospital had 72 surgeries and scopes in the month of April. 

Dr. Hallie Bischoff gave her medical staff report and also said the hospital construction is winding down and “we’re excited to finally be finished.” They are still looking for an orthopedic physician to replace Dr. Caldwell, who will be finishing soon. Dr. Francisco is still around, seeing patients. Bischoff said, “He’s been great to work with.” 


Bishoff also reported that they are doing an antibiotic monitoring program. They are doing six months of looking at Fluoroquinolones specifically. They are going to be examining how often they use it, what it was used for, is it being used appropriately? They want to monitor what providers are using for antibiotics. They will be looking at charts and data.

During Hospital week the staff was treated to snacks to show appreciation to them. There was also a BBQ for the celebration. 

Under quality, Nina Landis reported that for April medication reconciliation numbers came up to 83% which brings their year to date to 80% which is well over their goal of 77%. She also reported that everyone is getting transitioned onto their new quality forms. They are getting their policies up to date. They also went over their mock survey hot ticket items.


In the financial report, Shelly Larson said that their days in accounts receivable was at 53.11 and was up one day, “which is pretty amazing since we had our bump up in revenue for the month of April.” Clinic days in accounts receivable have gone down. Larson said the hospital is fairly stable. Days cash on hand is 171.28 which includes all of their Covid funds. Their year-to-date net operating loss was reduced to $661,000. 

The board commented about how this month of April compared to a year ago in 2020 when they shut everything down because of Covid. April 2021 is their record month in revenue to date because of surgeries and providers’ care. 

Larson also presented an audit engagement proposal from accountants Koerwitz Michel Wright & Associates. This is to do their annual audit and their annual single audit. The proposal cost ranges from $30,000 to $45,000 for the audit and $15,000 to $20,000 for the single audit. The single audit is when they receive federal funds for more than $750,000 they are required to have an audit of those specific expenditures. The board voted and passed to accept the engagement letter for both audits.

The next item Larson presented was their 2022 fiscal year budget proposal. The gross patient revenue has been budgeted to increase 10.22% which is a combination of volume increases and rate increases. Nationally there is a trend for inpatient revenue to be decreasing however outpatient revenue is expected to increase.

Larson predicted that clinics’ revenue would increase about 20% as they will be adding providers. They are also getting more patients and sending them to charity care to help pay bills versus sending them to collections. Staff salaries will increase at that market rate and or at an average of 3%.

They are budgeting a net operating loss of about $18,260. Also, the tax mill levy is expected to go down due to the reduced assessment, which is expected to be a $160,000 hit to the hospital. However, they will be receiving significant funds this year through grant funds for Covid. The budget’s projected net patient revenue is $2,714,410. 

In new business, the medical staff bylaws were amended to be compliant with the critical access rules and regulations. Their records have to be done within 15 days or they will be delinquent. Also, emergency room notes are done within 24 hours. The medical staff did pass the amendments earlier. The hospital board also voted and passed to accept them. 

 

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