Kiowa Hospital Board meets new administrator at retreat
Health insurance premiums increase over 38 percent
January 31, 2018
The Kiowa District Hospital Board held their regular January meeting last Thursday night. Two days before, they held a day-long board retreat at Kiowa’s United Methodist Church.
All members attended the retreat and regular meeting. Board President Pat Myers called the Thursday 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 staff also attended, as did Foundation President Judy Schrock and district patron Lois Allenbach.
At the retreat the board met the hospital’s new administrator Ronda Thomas who has a background in both nursing and administration. Thomas begins her new role in Kiowa Feb. 20. Thomas is an employee of Cohesive (the management/consulting company with whom the KDH board contracted last spring) who pays her salary.
Thomas will work four days per week with a varied schedule. Current KDH CEO Margaret Grismer became an employee of Cohesive when KDH contracted with them last year. Grismer remains CEO and will have a varied schedule, roughly one day/week in Kiowa.
At the retreat, board members met with others, including KDH IT/HR director Philip Anton. He apprised the board of IT issues, threats and defenses.
KDH’s insurance broker Joe Murray from Bukaty Company spoke to the board at the retreat. He did not bring good news. Because of several catastrophic claims (over $100,000) in 2017, the KDH health insurance cost jumped to a 38.5 percent increase. This premium hike was discussed at length at the regular board meeting.
After considering options and the fact that not many insurance companies would even bid on KDH this year, the board chose to go with Aetna Health Insurance renewal. This is with a $5,000 deductible and employees have the option to buy up to a $2,500 deductible.
Grismer confirmed that the hospital pays 75 percent of employee’s health insurance and the employee pays the remaining 25 percent unless an employee is contracted otherwise. So in most cases the hospital pays $369.75 toward all employee’s insurance.
Reports and More KDH Business
Cohesive Healthcare Project Manager Jamel Bandeh gave a monthly report. He said they have a marketing person in Wichita. In December they had 10 referrals, five admissions and two pending. He said the Senior Strong Program is “definitely growing.” KDH currently has seven patients in the program, three potential and an ongoing marketing program. He confirmed they’ve had a bit of a “rocky start” with billing.
Bandeh said KDH and the Great Plains Health Alliance are in the contractual review phase of the new Cerner Electronic Health Records software.
Grismer confirmed that a new nurse practitioner, Mary Wilkins, is coming to KDH through Cohesive.
The manor’s new administrator is John Fonang. He introduced himself at the meeting for the few people there that did not know him. He is also a Cohesive employee.
The financials, statistics and a few more business items will run in the Newgram next week.
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