Alva Review-Courier -

Last week an article in the Newsgram featured business from the January meeting of the Kiowa District Hospital.

This article covers financial, statistical and more information from that meeting. As reported, all board members attended. Board President Pat Myers called the meeting to order with Chantae Simpson, Miranda Allen, Jim Parker and Jeff Miller present. CEO Margaret Grismer also sat at the board table. CFO Janell Goodno was also present to give financial reports and more. Many KDH employees attended the meeting, including: Komari Ruiz, lab tech; Melissa Stroh, PA; Heidi Courson, Hospital DON; Robyn Whitaker, RN; Lana Smith, PT; Breena Perschbacher, business office; Tara Girty, business office; Brooke Molz, PT. Six members of Cohesive (the management staff) also attended as did Foundation President Judy Schrock and district patron Lois Allenbach.

Presenting financials, Goodno said that December was the biggest month of 2017 for the hospital. They had 16 admissions for 102 combined days of acute and swingbed care. Outpatient visits totaled 498 with clinic visits 304. The lab ran 4,099 tests.

For December, the hospital had $662,116 net patient revenue. That includes $136,365 total contractural adjustments. With the addition of $18,949 340B revenue (drug discount program), total operating revenue was $681,066. The hospital’s total operating expenses were $701,611. This made a loss of $20,545. With the addition of $97,538 (mainly tax revenue) the hospital was in the black $76,993.

The manor’s resident census was 17 in December. The manor has a new administrator who was introduced at the meeting. He is John Fonang, who is an employee of Cohesive.

For December, the manor had $103,066 total operating revenue. Total operating expenses were $118,972. This made the manor have a loss of $15,911. The addition of $5,368 (mainly tax revenue) curbed the manor’s loss to $10,543.

Year to date (YTD), the manor’s operating statement shows a loss of $353,031 at the end of December. That info shows the hospital’s loss YTD at $737,665. The combined balance sheet for the hospital and manor shows a combined loss of $1,090,696 at the end of 2017.

The combined balance sheet further shows total net patient accounts receivable was $1,318,387 at the end of 2017. Of that total, Goodno said about $650,000 is aging debt. Total cash in all funds was $604,451 at the end of 2017.

Because of increased patient numbers, KDH was in a payable status to Medicare on Dec. 31, Goodno said. KDH total net assets at the end of 2017 were $9,373,194, as shown on the combined balance sheet.

Other KDH Business

The updated KDH organizational chart was approved. Grismer said it shows the KDH Board of Directors at the top; followed by the management group Cohesive; the CEO (Grismer); the new hospital administrator (Ronda Thomas who starts Feb. 20); and so on.

The board approved a land use agreement. This is a continuance with local Brian Hill to mow and bale the over 12 acre area east of the hospital for another two years.

In her CEO report, Grismer said that Barber County Health now provides their services at KDH and no longer at Kiowa’s Community Building, which she said is a positive for both entities.

Nurse practitioner Mary Wilkins is starting at the clinic and is through Cohesive. Grismer said Wilkins does well-baby checkups.

While attending a meeting of the Wheat Plains Health Alliance, Grismer said she found that issues and challenges KDH experiences are felt by all 10 hospitals in the alliance. She attended the Kansas Healthcare Collaborative annual retreat. She said that Kansas is one of three states in which physicians and hospitals are working together to solve issues.

“It’s rough out there for physician offices too,” Grismer said.

In her report to the board, physician assistant Melissa Stroh said, “There’s lots flu and strep in the community.”

Med staff appointments were approved for Dr. Eugene Chung and Dr. Ammar Taha.

The board approved six legally recognized holidays for which the clinic will be closed in 2018. They will close at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

Following a nearly two-hour executive session, the board approved the RM/QA monthly report for the hospital. They also approved one financial assistance application for January.

The date of the next regular board meeting is Monday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m., at the clinic lobby.