Alva Review-Courier -

After no July meeting, the Alva Hospital Authority met Tuesday, Aug. 30. Share Medical Center CEO Kandice Allen said she’s getting good feedback on new staff for the Emergency Room. Dr. Bryan Cook and Shawn Vredenburg PA have been added to ER staff.

“Angelica (Brady) is doing a great job,” Allen said of the new chief financial officer. “She really jumped in and is a huge asset to our organization. I really appreciate her help.”

Allen said she was recently gone on vacation for a week. “I got lost in the middle of the ocean,” she said. Even though she was out of touch, she said the hospital staff managed without her. “I want them to be self-sufficient and to problem-solve and to carry on without me,” she said.

Former CFO Chris Lauderdale is transitioning to his new role as controller. Allen said he is “doing a wonderful job hooking into the revenue cycle.” She said the staff at Share Medical is looking forward to the day when they don’t hear any more complaints on their revenue cycle. “It’s a huge project that will be with us for a long time. It’s a very tedious project,” she said.

Allen said a small remodel project is going on in the conference room. Some smartboards will be purchased for training, particularly to implement the electronic health records training. The conference room will have new carpet and some cabinets. It was suggested the hospital have three training labs. They plan to use the conference room, the media room and the old physical therapy room.

Praise for Nursing Staff

Dr. Deryl Gulliford, director of respiratory therapy at Autry Tech Center in Enid, is a consultant for Share Medical Center. He teaches the nurses and staff to be respiratory therapists, Allen said. She shared a letter that Dr. Gulliford sent to her and DON Regina Wilson:

“I had the opportunity to speak at the national conference of the American Association for Respiratory Care last month. The conference was held in Palm Springs, California, with about 900 attendees. My topic was Cardiopulmonary Care in Small and Rural Hospital Settings.

“I wanted you to know that I used Share Medical Center as my example of how Cardiopulmonary Care can be conducted at a very high level, even in a small facility. I’ve worked with many small hospitals in Ohio, Kansas and Oklahoma over the past 30 years. But among small hospitals, nowhere is the care of patients more current and more proactive than it is at Share.

“Having worked with your hospital for 11 years now, I see several reasons for this:

• First and foremost, nurses who are willing and ready to learn whatever is needed for patients. The “not my job” attitude does not exist on your staff.

• Physicians and other providers at Share who will listen to the nurses and myself when we have recommendations, or when we need a provider’s order for something important.

• You have created access to leaders in each professional field, and you realize that it will not be possible to have all of them residing in Alva. You have them by phone, by Zoom, by telemedicine.

“I just wanted you to know that the national Respiratory Care community is now aware of Share Medical Center and Alva. There are 1,353 hospitals in America with 25 beds or less. If they all approached Cardiopulmonary Care as Share does, we would improve rural healthcare in the nation.”

Medical Staff

Hospital trustees approved the recommendation of the medical credentialing committee to reappoint Steven Danley DO to courtesy staff. Shawn Vredenburg PA was appointed to allied staff.

Share Medical Financials

Share Medical Center shows a net operating loss for July of $442,685 compared to a loss of $665,511 in June. The operating cash balance for July was $33,512. Accounts payable balance was $467,486.

Hospital gross patient revenue for the month totaled $1,417,725, which was a $277,958 decrease compared to the prior month. Total patient days for July were 63 compared to 97 in June. Total clinic visits for July were 1,298 compared to 1,436 in June.

Charity care for the month totaled $5,079. Hospital operating expenses excluding salaries, benefits and depreciation totaled $398,738, a decrease of $116,591 compared to the prior month. Hospital salaries and wages for July totaled $544,892, a decrease of $20,991 compared to June.

Share Convalescent Home

The HVAC project a Share Convalescent Home is now on the third engineer with HPE. It’s hoped the project can get moving soon.

Administrator Kelly Parker said in his report that the nurse call system handled 4,182 calls in July, up 198 from the previous month. The average response time was 2 minutes, 49 seconds. 82.7 percent of calls were answered in five minutes or less.

The net income for the nursing home in July was $13,390 compared to a loss of $225,578 in June. The operating cash balance for July was $331,551. The accounts receivable balance was $61,152.

Gross patient revenue for July totaled $222,456 which was an increase of $139,340 over the prior month. Total patient days for July were 1,037 compared to 993 in June.

Convalescent Home operating expenses excluding salaries, benefits and depreciation for July totaled $88,070, a decrease of $3,741 compared to the prior month. Salaries and wages for July totaled $150,765, which was a decrease of $17,855 compared to the prior month.

The Homestead

The financial report for the Homestead shows a loss of $6,690 for July compared to a net income of $2,155 in June.

Patient service revenue for the month was $40,850 compared to $41,938 in June. Meal revenue was $9,358 in July compared to $5,060 the previous month. Net patient revenue was $50,208 for July.

Total operating expenses for July were $56,898 compared to $44,843 the prior month.