Alva Review-Courier -

In the absence of board president Pat Myers, Vice President Jeff Miller presided over the regular May board of directors meeting May 23. All other board members attended including secretary Jim Parker, Marcia Cantrell and Chantae Simpson. Also present were CEO Janell Goodno; COO Philip Anton; Business Office Manager Tara Girty; Quality Manager/Manor DON Brandy Campbell; Hospital DON Robyn Whitaker; Facilities Director Brad Applegarth; Accountant/Biller Courtney Larson; Accounts Payable Elaine Johnson; RHC Manager Lacey Volker; Dr. Paul Wilhelm; Friends of the Hospital and Manor Foundation President Judy Schrock.

Morris Presents the KDH Audit

Matt Morris of Forvis (formerly BKD) presented individual board members with financial packets and more details about KDH's annual audit than he gave at the annual meeting immediately prior to this regular meeting.

Morris said he had “no issues” with the audit of the financial statements for 2022 and he gave “a clean opinion.” He said that accountant/biller Courtney Larson “was good to work with” and she and Goodno “make a good team.”

Morris said the hospital and manor Foundation had a nice increase in unrestricted cash with contributions up about $100,000. A separate single audit will be performed due to the USDA loans; with no issues anticipated. He noted the USDA loans totaled $2,850,000 at the end of 2022.

The Medicare Cost Report was good, he said. Accounts receivable were down and revenue was up about $1 million over the previous year.

Hospital and Manor Financial and Statistical Reports

Girty provided an update from the "Matching Discount Payment Program." She described the program as “a success” and said it “is popular with patients.” So far KDH has collected $70,750 and written off $70,750. That's a total of $141,500 worth of retired debt. Girty said the program runs for near five more weeks.

For April the KDH Accounts Receivable were at $1,321,617, with Average Days in AR of 47,Girty reported. She said payments totaled $578,327.

Larson presented the Cash Requirements Worksheet. The Days in Cash for April is 52. She also presented the Operating Expense Efficiency Review, which tracks expense per workload unit.

Presenting April statistics, total hospital admissions were 21. Days of swingbed and acute care totaled 76, of which 36 days were acute and 40 days were swingbed.

Outpatient visits were 770. Of those, some of the departments with the largest numbers were: lab visits, 332; therapy (PT, OT, ST, RT) 111; x-ray, 96; E.R., 61; treatment room, 59; and CT scan, 44.

Clinic visits totaled 573. Larson said there are significant increases in patient numbers over 2022. Year-to-date clinic visits for 2023 totaled 2,228; compared to same time in 2022 when total clinic visits were 1,752.

The hospital's operating statement for April showed an overall loss of $250,634. Larson explained a $151,903 Medicare adjustment due to a cost report reversal was partial cause. Salaries were higher than usual due to three pay periods.

Total operating revenue was $440,713 (that includes $31,071 340B drug discount revenue). Total expenses were ++$767,788 for a net from operations loss of $327,075. The addition of $76,440 (mainly tax revenue) curbed the loss to $250,634.

The manor had 24 residents in April. Larson said the manor had $165,573 total operating revenue. Expenses were $226,644. This made a net from operations loss of $61,071. With the addition of $7,252 (mainly tax revenue), the loss was reduced to $53,819.

The comparative balance sheets for the hospital and manor show cash-on-hand of $1,618,587. Uncollected taxes from the county total $273,253, and $455,000 is due from Medicare. The combined loss of the hospital and manor was $388,753 at the end of April. Total assets are $11,998,354.

The board approved all the financial and statistical reports. They also approved numerous monthly reports from staff.

Manor Kitchen Complete, Gets Van and More

Applegarth said the kitchen remodel at the manor is 99 percent complete. He said they've been using the kitchen for about three weeks now. He said the project will likely come in $700 or $800 over budget. A new digital food ordering process launched. A grease fire prevention system was installed. Their next focus is some needed work in the dining room.

Goodno and Applegarth spoke of the need for another transport van to use for manor residents and the hospital childcare. A family that had a handicap van and no longer needs it offered it to KDH for $18,000.This used 2015 van with 76,000 miles has been converted for wheelchair transport. The board approved the purchase, pending funding from the foundation and/or General Store. KDF Foundation President Schrock said the foundation can pay the entire $18,000, so the board approved it.

The PT Department has an elliptical with an arm broken off. They would like to replace it with an Adaptive Motion Trainer, a better piece of equipment for $9,297.06. Schrock said the foundation has PT-restricted funds that could be used, so the item was tabled to next month.

Whitaker said the laparoscopic tower/camera system machine is obsolete. It's used to do laparoscopic gall bladder surgery. The machine is otherwise in good condition except for the display screen, which is poor. Dr. Porter has only done five gall bladder surgeries in the last three years. The item was tabled until next month.

The hospital and manor administrator reports were mainly addressed in the annual meeting report last week. Both Goodno and Anton said they have several positions open.

Medical staff appointments were approved as follows: Kevin Hamm, DO; Raphaella Da Silva, MD (vRad).

After an hour-long executive session, the board approved the April risk management reports for the manor and hospital.

The KDH Staff & Family Picnic was in Progress Park May 24. KDH and their foundation plan their annual fundraising dinner, auction and evening of entertainment known as Jeans & Gems for Sept. 9. The theme of the evening is “A Murder Mystery.”

The next board meeting is June 27 in the KDH Kirkpatrick room at 7 p.m.