Alva Review-Courier -

The new orthopedic program at Share Medical Center and the transition of Share Convalescent Home to management by Beadles were major topics of discussion at the Alva Hospital Authority (AHA) meeting Tuesday. A video of the meeting may be viewed at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com.

CEO Report

Share Medical CEO Kandice Allen told trustees, “We continue to work really hard to get through the nursing home contracts, and we were hoping to have that for you tonight. Unfortunately, one of the attorneys had a medical emergency and was not able to get together and finish reviewing it with their attorneys so hopefully they will get that done as soon as possible. “

She said it’s likely a special meeting will be needed on the contracts because the goal is to start the management agreement on the first of the month, and they were aiming for October.

Allen spoke at length about the orthopedic program and agreements with the Alva School District. “The goal of the orthopedic program obviously is to drive business to Share Medical Center that might normally leave town because historically there has not been another option. By starting this orthopedic program, we’re giving them that option,” she said.

“Keeping those patients in town utilizing the services we provide, that money stays in Alva. Our goal is to bring services to the community that are needed and support the hospital for years to come. It’s not unlike any other business in town that asks our residents and customers to shop locally. We provide overhead for running a large facility 24/7, 365, and we need the community’s support for all the services we provide.”

Allen said the hospital is getting great feedback from Dr. Tupper’s patients, and he has done multiple procedures. She said Dr. Tupper has been very complimentary of the hospital staff.

“If you’ll recall, we started looking for a surgeon for this program toward the end of 2022 and located Dr. Tupper in January 2023,” said Allen. “Coach Foster with Alva Public Schools reached out and wanted to discuss us providing a trainer or medical personnel that could be on the sidelines, and we agreed to do that. We felt like that would be good for those kids to get seen in a timelier manner.”

She said Foster met with Dr. Tupper and Steve Madrid on March 3 about what services could be provided and how quickly patients could be seen. A meeting was also held with NWOSU athletics to discuss their needs and how Dr. Tupper could help them.

“We are excited to say that we have our first two Northwestern football students that will be seeing Dr. Tupper next week. We’re excited that these kids don’t have to drive to Oklahoma City. We’re bringing one of the most talented Oklahoma City orthopedic surgeons right here to Alva, Oklahoma,” said Allen.

Over 200 sports physicals were completed for Alva students. Share Medical is working with the Alva schools to provide nursing services, and the school will also be using Share physical therapists.

Allen also told trustee about Patient Point, a provider satisfaction tool, being implemented. “This is a tool that patients will receive a text to your phone after you see one of our clinic providers and be able to anonymously rate those providers and give us feedback on what we could do better if we need to,” she said. “It will give us immediate feedback, and if it is a situation where we need to reach out to do service recovery, we’ll have the opportunity to do that. I feel like this is a great opportunity to give kudos to our providers,”

Allen said typically the people leaving feedback on the internet are voicing complaints. It’s rare for those who are pleased with their providers to post kudos.

A free bonus with the program is software providing digital diagrams of the human body that doctors can use to help patients visualize what’s going on.

CFO Report

CFO Angelica Brady went over financial reports. The Share Medical Center operating cash balance for July was $35,656 representing 1.6 days of operating expenses, excluding depreciation. Hospital accounts receivable balance was $4,552,847, an increase of $13,379 during the month.

The Accounts payable balance for July was $886,790 representing 94.9 days of operating expenses, excluding the costs related to salaries, benefits and depreciation.

Hospital gross patient revenue for July totaled $1,328,360, which was an increase of $306,876 compared to the prior month. Total patient days for July were 72 compared to 84 in June. Total clinic office visits for July were 1,300 compared to 1,682 in June. Charity care for the month totaled $3,423.

Hospital operating expenses excluding salaries, benefits and depreciation for July totaled $416,019, a decrease of $27,516 compared to the prior month. Hospital salaries and wages for July were $527,246, an increase of $52,250 compared to the prior month. The hospital net loss for July was $78,692. The net income for June was $80,417.

Credentialing

AHA trustees approved three courtesy staff reappointments. Michael Jackson, MD was reappointed in obstetrics and gynecology. Andrea Partida, DO was reappointed in obstetrics and gynecology. William Garner, MD was reappointed in cardiology.

Returned Check Policy

Trustees approved a returned check policy for the hospital. Brady said, “This policy basically allows us to refuse to accept a personal check from someone who has given us a bad or returned check for any reason. It would require them to pay with a different form: cashier’s check, or money order, or credit or debit card. If they do not take care of the returned check immediately, it allows us to send it to collections.”

Share Convalescent Home

Convalescent Home Administrator Kelly Parker said he was going to forgo financial reports for the convalescent home and The Homestead due to some errors that were found. He said the errors were in The Homestead accounting, but the two entities share accounts so he wants to wait until the errors are corrected.

During June the convalescent home had had staffing shortages so they had to use “quite a bit of agency hours that month as well as overtime,” Parker said. During June and July, the number of transfers and regular admissions along with those transferring out and deaths resulted in a net decrease in census.

In July Share Convalescent had their certification survey from the state of Oklahoma. “The nursing department had zero deficiencies, except there was a reporting issue on our staffing hours that I didn’t turn in,” Parker said. “Our software doesn’t generate the report that’s needed. It’s not a report that generates us any increased revenue or anything like that. I had a priority. So that is the only deficiency we got.

“The staff did a great job and I heard over and over and over again – the surveyors aren’t really supposed to say things like this – but they were just overly complimentary of our staff and how much they could just tell that our staff loved our residents. They said, ‘Your staff loves your residents, and your residents love you guys.’ If they said it once, they said it 10 times in the three days that they were with us.”

The continuing staffing shortage has been eased because Beadles Nursing Home has been increasing their staff in anticipation of taking over management of the convalescent home. Parker said they have contracted with Beadles and have been using Beadles staff to fill shortages.

“I feel like most of the staff are in pretty good spirits about the transition. Most of the residents and families are in pretty good spirits about the transition. I do believe when we get all the contracts signed and the state signed off on it, I do believe it’s going to be really good for our community,” Parker said. “We do have, I’m going to say, less than five employees that are going to opt out of going to work for them. I think we have one resident that’s going to move out of Alva. … I think those are pretty good numbers moving forward.”

The trustees voted to table four items on the agenda relating to contracts with Beadles for management and purchase of the convalescent home because attorneys aren’t finished going over them.

They did approve one item to set up a separate operating account for the period of time when Beadles in managing the convalescent home prior to purchase being approved by the state. Parker explained revenue from payments during that time will go into the operating account, and any expenses during that time will be paid from the same account.

The Homestead

Parker reported they are seeing more interest from potential residents at The Homestead, and they’ve had new residents move in during the last two months.

Last winter a fire sprinkler line froze and broke, causing damage to some apartments. Parker said the company came out and made repairs to the line last week. Now they can get in to make repairs and renovations to the damaged areas.

He said satisfaction surveys of residents have been good even though they’ve been dealing with air conditioning problems “right and left”. They have been moving window air conditioning units in until a local HVAC company can get in to make repairs.