Hot Springs Health continues search for CFO, CEO

At the February 22 Hot Springs Health board meeting, Chairmen Dr. Bill Williams welcomed Jessica Benefiel as a new board member. 

CEO Margie Molitor gave her growth report and said they have two “highly qualified” candidates coming for an interview for the CFO position. For the new CEO to replace the retiring Molitor, a variety of applicants will be presented on March 22 during staff meetings. 

Molitor continued and said, “we’ve been working with the sheriff’s office and the police department to make sure that our buzzers work if we need assistance in an emergency…. in an effort to build those relationships with law enforcement, we are now offering free breakfast and lunch and snacks to law enforcement. If they’re on duty and in uniform, they can come by and get breakfast and lunch. And we want them to stop by so that it builds those relationships and also has a presence in our building, a more or more frequent presence in our building.”

Molitor also brought up their request for proposals for their clinic addition and said that Heath Overfield was “hugely helpful” in their writing. Already they had four different architecture firms request their full packet. Molitor added they want to move Dr. Nicole Jamieson to the surgical clinic over under the roof of the Rural Health Clinic. Also, from a cost perspective, they would no longer have to lease some of the space they were using. Molitor said, “There are lots of reasons to make this change… the first step is getting the drawings and then getting to find out what that’s going to cost. Once we know that, then we can take the next step.”

Dr. Hallie Bischoff gave the medical staff report and said they were performing many updates to both their clinics and the hospital. They are restructuring how the front desk, billing, and scheduling are operating and they are making their job descriptions more detailed and succinct. Bischoff added, “They’re trying to get all of the clinics on the same page.” 

Bischoff continued and said that they are working on getting people into the clinics and addressing getting the schedule filled. Bischoff said, “I hear all the time, ‘Oh, I called and I can’t get in.’” But she added, “There are lots of open spots. So where’s the disconnect?” Overall, they are updating policies for the providers, medications, and pharmacy. Bischoff added they are also prepping for a mock survey, which will show areas of improvement and opportunities for teaching and making things better.

Chief Clinical Officer Scott Alwin gave the quality report and said that they now have three CRNA candidates and their interviews are forthcoming. Alwin added, “I think we’re going to end up with a tough decision and I think that’s a good problem to have.” 

Alwin also said they are preparing for the high school summer internship program. Alwin noted that the article in the newspaper “stirred questions already. I’ve gotten phone calls both here at the hospital and at home. And so that’s been good, to have a good dialog with the community.” Alwin plans to meet with high school students and present to them the opportunity to apply and explain the internship details. 

Alwin continued and discussed how they were preparing for the coming mock survey of the hospital and they are conducting walk-throughs. Alwin said they “have been going literally through department by department evaluating last year’s survey and then making recommended changes.” The mock survey will be during the last full week of March.

For their Move to Model program, Alwin said they have conducted the initial superuser training and are now preparing to move to the end-user training. March 19 is their goal to go live. 

Interim Chief Financial Officer Steve Miller gave his report and said that in January there was a decline in emergency room visits and caused a loss of revenue. There were also some one-time expenses in terms of their salaries and wages. Miller said these will be offset through grant funds. However, their records will show an operating loss for the month of January. Miller also said their days in accounts receivable “remain essentially constant from the preceding month.” 

Miller presented some checking account resolutions as action items. The board has to update the signature cards for three different banks with the retirement of the previous CFO, Shelly Larson. Scott Alwin and David Koerwitz will be added to the cards. The board voted and approved the resolutions. 

In new business, Chairman Dr. Williams had the board sign new confidentiality and conflict of interest statements. They also discussed the options for when they will have their board retreat sometime in June. They also discussed possible locations, either Cody, Lander, or somewhere else.