Share Medical Center had seven inpatients on Tuesday morning although none had Covid-19 according to CEO Kandice Allen, RN. She was giving a report to the Alva Hospital Authority Tuesday evening.

“As you have probably heard on the news, we are having some people test positive for Covid,” she said. “I think over the last week we’ve had three. I do want to emphasize though that there is a misconception that people are saying ‘no reason to get your Covid vaccine because I’m hearing of people that have had the vaccine test positive for Covid.’

“While that can be true, those are not typically the people that are hospitalized with Covid or dying of Covid. I still think the vaccine is important and does give your immune system an opportunity to be primed to fight Covid if you were to contract it. It’s still important to get vaccinated if you have not been vaccinated.”

In her written report, Allen said 35 patients were admitted to the hospital during June. The emergency room saw 244 patients in June.

Allen said Michelle Hamilton is working on written policies and procedures with the goal of having a manual for each office position. That way when someone is absent, another person can step in and fill the spot using the manual. Hamilton and her staff are working through every receivables account to make sure they are correct. Due to some billing errors, the hospital is halting collections calls for 45 days until all accounts are verified.

The City of Alva is remodeling Suites J and K in the Professional Building to accommodate Drs. Scott and Chris Burk who will be arriving in September. Appointments for them are being booked now. With the newly remodeled space, the Burks and medical personnel in the Downtown Clinic will be able to share office staff.

Paige Kruckenburg, PA has submitted her resignation effective in October. She will be joining a dermatology group in Enid.

Mark Nichols has requested to step down as the IT director and go back to being an IT technician. Allen said the hospital is searching for possible solutions. They are consulting with a hospital that has medical techology resources that might be able to provide oversight and training.

Financial Reports

CFO Chris Lauderdale reported Share Medical Center operating cash balance for June was $394,880 representing 12.9 days of operating expenses, excluding depreciation. Hospital accounts receivable balance was $5,999,647, an increase of $7,264 during the month. Lauderdale said that balance was so high because bad debts have not been written off for several months. He’s working with TruBridge to get that resolved.

Accounts payable balance for June was $372,621, representing 27.5 days of operating expenses excluding costs related to salaries, benefits and depreciation. Hospital gross patient revenue for June totaled $1,544,109, a $56,755 decrease compared to the prior month. Total patient days for June were 61 compared to 107 in May. Total clinic office visits for June were 1,414 compared to 1,269 in May. Charity care for June totaled $11,851.

The hospital had a net operating profit for June of $39,388. Adding interest income and sales tax revenue, the hospital net profit was $153,532.

Lauderdale said the Share Convalescent Home (SCH) had an operating cash balance for June of $438,292, representing 44.5 days of operating expenses, excluding depreciation. Accounts receivable balance was $664,383, a decrease of $55,056 during the month.

SCH accounts payable balance for June was a negative $15,117. Lauderdale said this was not the actual amount which is closer to $20,000 to $25,000. The nursing home is switching from Phoenix software to PointClickCare software causing this discrepancy.

Gross patient revenue for June totaled $243,750 which was an increase of $15,047 over May Total patient days for June were 1,111 compared to 1,132 in May. Share Convalescent Home had a net loss for June of $64,013.

Looking at financial statements for the Homestead, Lauderdale pointed out a net income of $19,184 for June. This compared to a net income of $29,301 in June of last year.

Share Convalescent Home

Share Convalescent Administrator Kelly Parker said the nursing home is down quite a bit in the number of residents. The average in June was 37. As of Tuesday, there were 39 residents and they are working on getting skilled nursing admissions increased. He and Director of Nursing Tierna Adair are going to be doing marketing calls at larger hospitals. They have been getting some referrals from other places already.

Parker said the nursing home is really working on increasing their rehabilitation services with both physical and occupational therapy. He spoke about a letter received from a family that said after their father was released from Share Convalescent, he was doing better than when he went into the hospital.

Share Convalescent is working on decreasing their response time to calls from patients. Parker said response times were starting to slip. Midway through June, 75 calls took over 15 minutes to answer. He said the last half of the month that number was down to 15 with 76 percent answered in five minutes or less.

The convalescent home is continuing to work on replacement of their HVAC system. Parker said he had a conference call with the state Department of Health on system planning. The engineer is planning another trip to Alva to get final measurements to finish a plan to submit to the health department. When installation of the HVAC system begins, Parker said the plan is to use the empty isolation wing as temporary housing for residents while work is being done on their rooms.

Share Convalescent is still testing Covid-free, he said. They purchased a passive infection control system that disperses a product over 3,000 feet including surfaces and the air.

Flooring has been replaced in two private rooms, and that work will continue. The refurbishment funds were also used to replace blinds in seven rooms.

Share Convalescent is already using PointClickCare for accounts receivable. They are in the midst of adding general ledger and accounts payable to the system. They will also implement the nutrition part of the program which will allow them to enter meal orders that will pop up in the kitchen, hopefully eliminating errors.

Homestead

Parker reported the census is up at the Homestead. All positions have been filled except for some in the kitchen. The Homestead activities program took a hit from the Covid lockdowns. They are now working on more activities and starting to take trips.

Work continues on refurbishing apartments. With the Homestead’s large number of HVAC units, Parker said there are always issues.

There has been some settling in the doors leading outdoors. He said one is inoperable and others are showing the effects. The Homestead has a contractor lined up to start work on the south door which is the worst and then proceeding to the others.

Other Business

At the recommendation of the credentialing committee, the trustees approved the appointment to courtesy staff of Samuel Taylor, MD. He will be working in the emergency room as needed.

Election of officers was held with all officers reelected. Jason Gaisford will continue as chair, Kim Baugh as vice-chair and Dr. Halah Simon as secretary.

The next Alva Hospital Authority meeting is scheduled for Aug. 24 at 5:30 p.m.