The Alva Hospital Authority has approved the purchase of new lights for the second surgery room at Share Medical Center. The Skytron Dual Aurora Lights will cost $27,357.22. The lights are part of the equipment needed to open up the second surgery room. The hospital is also working on purchasing an anesthesia machine and an ultrasound. Opening up this second surgery room will improve the efficiency of surgeries. Currently patients must arrive early and wait for each earlier surgery to be completed and the room cleaned. With two rooms, the surgeon can work in one while the other is being cleaned, speeding up the process.
The Tuesday meeting was opened by Chairman Dr. Bo Hannaford with Dr. Ken Brown, Dr. Halah Simon, Greg Bowman, Dr. Callie Mosburg and Dr. Scott Burk present. Connor Martin was absent.
CEO Report
Share Medical CEO Kandice Allen reported clinic visits for July were up more than expected for a summer month. The downtown clinic saw an increase of 115 visits, urgent care saw 28 more patients, and the west end had an increase of 10. Share Medical has hired two NWOSU nursing students, Bridget Wilhite and Cerena Warfield, who have passed their exams and getting orientation.
Surgery was busy in July with Dr. Tupper being in Alva all five Wednesdays. Dr. Roberts added a third Tuesday to help get caught up. Dr. Guerra also saw quite a few more in clinic and saw in increase in procedures.
Efforts continue on physician recruitment. Allen said one provider wants to go to a contract where seeing more patients brings more pay.
Allen will be going to a Meditech conference in September to get updates on the software being used by the hospital. A few providers are testing an AI product to help reduce the time they spend charting in Meditech. The product listens to the entire conversation between the physician and patient and then suggests drafts for entries in the patient’s chart. Allen said the conference will also help them settle on what AI tool to use.
The hospital continues to see progress with the new billing company. Allen said the hospital contracted with TruBridge for five years, and they did not deliver well. Code Quick is already doing a much better job. Out of August billing which totaled $1,117,000 as of Aug. 25 only $602.42 had not been posted. The hospital has received many calls about payments not being posted to accounts. “Hopefully patients will begin seeing a difference,” she said.
Allen highlighted the hospital’s Patient Point which can be used for reviews and comments by the patient following an appointment with a provider. She read a few of the comments. She said the hospital providers are receiving five-star reviews over and over. Previously, staff checked the reviews for any problems reported. Allen said they intend to look more at rewarding the staff for good reviews.
CFO Report
CFO Kelly Parker reported the Share Medical Center operating cash balance for July was $531,517, representing 13 days of operating expenses excluding depreciation. The hospital accounts receivable balance was $3,501,560, a decrease of $640,076 during July.
Accounts payable balance for July was $996,067, up $306,591 from the previous month.
Hospital gross patient revenue for the month totaled $2,359,044, a decrease of $62,195 compared to the prior month. Total patient days were 43 compared to 44 in June. Total clinic office visits were 1,449 compared to 1,298 in June.
The hospital net loss for July was $309,629.
The July SHOPP payment of approximately $300,000 was delayed which caused the hospital to borrow $100,000 against their line of credit at Community Bank. The roof invoice of $523,255 was paid in August and had a significant impact on accounts payable balances at the end of July.
Parker said his department is continuously working with the auditors to be in better compliance with auditing standards.
Trustees approved the FY 23-24 and FY 24-25 audit reports. Parker said both had favorable opinions although the hospital still can’t hire enough people to take care of perferred internal controls. There is not enough separation of duties, although the hospital is working to improve this.
Medical Staff
On behalf of the medical staff executive committee, Dr. Burk presented one reappointment to courtesy staff for approval by the trustees. William L. Garner, MD was approved in cardiology.
Share Convalescent Home
Parker said the hospital is still working with the Jordans in the transition to Beadles New Beginnings. Payments to Beadles are continuing to be made to Share and are then passed on to Beadles.
The Homestead
The Homestead retirement community had some people move in and others move out. The facility had a $7,005 loss for the month.
The Homestead is working with the city on some equipment repairs and replacements.
Parker said they continue to have lots of activities for residents. Highlights may be viewed on The Homestead Facebook page.
A video of the meeting may be viewed at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com by clicking on Videos.
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