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VAN DYKE -- The Board of Directors of the
Comanche County Medical Center met for the second time in a week on
Friday, April 27, and after a relatively brief closed door, executive
session, voted unanimously on a motion offered by Gale Easley,
seconded by Karen Carr, to offer a contract of employment to Kevin
Storey as the hospital's new Chief Executive Officer.
On Monday, April 30, Board president
Charles Mazurek sent a memo to hospital employees and fellow board
members advising them that Storey had agreed to accept the contract
offer and that he was expected to start work at the hospital on June
4.
Mazurek's memo noted that Storey and his
wife, Sandra, and daughter Kaylee, 11, and son Kalynn, 8, would soon
be moving to Comanche County. Storey has a niece, Victoria, a college
student, who is also a part of his family.
Storey has been serving as the Assistant
Administrator and Chief Financial Officer for the 96-bed Henderson
Memorial Hospital in Henderson, Texas, since 2004. Prior to that time
he had served for six years in a similar capacity at Moore County
Hospital in Dumas. He has also worked in financial and information
systems management capacities in hospitals in Clarksville, Little Rock
and Newport, Arkansas. He has earned a bachelor's degree from Arkansas
State and an MBA in Healthcare Management from the University of
Phoenix.
April Board Meeting
The CCMC Board of Directors held their
regular monthly meeting earlier in the week, on Monday evening, April
23. As in the April 27 meeting, five members were present. Charles
Mazurek presided and, Joe Locke, Gale Easley, Karen Carr and Mary Jane
Atkins participated. John Weaver could not attend either meeting due
to being out of town.
The Monday evening meeting began at 6:00
p.m. and after approving the minutes of the prior month's meeting and
a brief report that things seemed to be going well by Medical Chief of
Staff Dr. Howard Dickey, the Board went into closed, executive session
to consider applicants for the Chief Executive Officer position.
The executive session lasted
approximately three hours, during which time the Board conducted
several individual interviews with various staff and one applicant.
The applicant interviewed was Kevin Storey, to whom the Board would
later, on Friday, extend an offer of employment. Following Storey's
second meeting with the Board, he left the hospital, and the Board
resumed public session after a break.
At the resumption of the open session at
9:10 p.m., Board president Charles Mazurek announced that there would
be no action taken on the agenda item that was the subject of the
three hour closed session, but that the matter would be revisited in a
meeting at noon on Friday.
The Board then began consideration of its
normal monthly agenda at a rapid pace, given the late hour.
The next agenda item concerned a request
by interim CEO Kurt Meyer for authorization to engage the hospital's
bond advisors, First Southwest in Dallas, to prepare an arbitrage
report on the investment returns earned on the borrowing of $12.9
million in tax exempt bonds to determine if any tax liability might
have resulted. Meyer and interim CFO Jim Gardner noted that the cost
of the study was in the $2,000 to $2,500 range. The Board unanimously
authorized the recommendation on a motion by Joe Locke.
CEO Report
Interim CEO Kurt Meyer reported that the
hospital is continuing to improve in operational efficiency by
reducing the number of full time equivalent employees down to 195,
from a high of 240 earlier in the fiscal year. The FTE's per adjusted
patient day measure was reported to be down to 4.48 from 4.8 in the
prior month.
Meyer discussed work under way to
continue to improve on efficiency in materials purchasing, noting that
the software being used in that department was being completely
reconfigured and inventories reloaded from scratch.
Meyer reported that much progress had
been made in the technology area. He stated that the telephone system
is now working much better, that the vendor had worked with the
hospital employees to completely reroute the system with much improved
results. Progress has also being made on the environmental controls
system where a new computer server is being purchased with grant funds
and will be solely dedicated to that function. Work is also continuing
to getting the computers on wheels in operation for the nursing
department and in integrating the pharmacy software system.
Meyer noted that the patient discharge
billing system is continuing to function at an improved level with
unbilled charges continuing to fluctuate between $75-125,000. He noted
that the prior month's cash collections was at a record high of $1.5
million, easily surpassing the $1.3 million target.
The average patient length of stay is running at 3.3 days, another
favorable figure. He added that the Medicare severity of illness mix
index was also favorably high, which translates into higher hospital
revenues.
Investigation is continuing on emergency
room physician groups with two proposals having been submitted. A
presentation at the next Board is anticipated.
Meyer noted that he had completed and
submitted that same day a required annual hospital survey. He also
reported that the hospital has agreed to participation in the Texas
Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals' benchmarking program in
order to better assess how CCMC compares to other similar hospitals.
It will allow for monthly comparisons.
Meyer reported that the continuing
meetings with Cross Timbers Community Health Center personnel have
been productive and have resulted in cordial cooperation between the
two health care organizations.
Meyer added that the annual budget process is progressing and nearing
the point to where a draft will be presented to the Board for review
and eventual approval.
Clinical Report
Chief Nursing Officer Shannon Steigleder
reported that the emergency room treated 448 patients in March with
103 hospital admissions resulting. She added that the surgery
department had a record high number of procedures during the month.
The Hospice resurvey has been
successfully re-completed. Hospice currently has 12 patients and is
again accepting new patients. A survey of the CBA, Lifeline and Home
Health programs has been completed at all programs passed with good
marks.
Steigleder noted that a free health
screening will be held at the hospital lobby on May 2. Screenings for
cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, circulation, aneurysms, stroke
potential and other medical conditions will be offered at no cost. She
noted that area residents can get for free what they would be charged
$129 for at a commercial health screening service that will be
operating in the area on the same day. Immediate medical treatment
will be available for any severe problems identified. Cross Timbers
Community Health Center personnel will also be involved in the
screening services.
Steigleder then talked about the
Shattered Dreams program that involves a mock alcohol-related
automobile crash that would be conducted on April 30 and May 1 at
DeLeon High School.
Financial Report
Chief Financial Officer Jim Gardner did
not have as favorable report as in the previous month. He noted that
Meyer and Steigleder had reported the good news and now it was his
turn to tell the bad part.
He said that hospital revenues were down in March because of low
patient volumes in both the hospital and clinic. There had been
earlier joking comments in the meeting about an outbreak of good
health in the community.
Kurt Meyer interjected that even though
patient admission and discharge numbers declined in March, the
hospital had still managed to maintain good staffing to patient days
statistics, an indication of good resources management.
Gardner commented that expenses remained
low and flat, with the only area of increase being in purchased
services, where the cost of the PHNS management services (interim CEO
Meyer and interim CFO Gardner) is reflected.
Gardner displayed a computer slide
showing the progress made in lowering Full Time Equivalent numbers
which declined from 218 at the beginning of February to 195 at the end
of March. Another slide showed the average days of accounts receivable
up slightly for the hospital and down slightly for the clinic. The
average days were in the 50's and 40's, very good according to
Gardner. He added that at the beginning of the fiscal year the number
had been over 100 days.
Accounts payable remained flat at under
$800,000, considerably better than the $1.3 million a few months
earlier, yet still above a desired $500-600,000 level. Cash levels
stayed relatively flat. It was noted that unencumbered invested cash
levels are good at around $662,000, the rough equivalent of two
employee and physician payrolls. The hospital has over $1 million in
total invested cash, part of which is set aside for bond obligations.
Gardner added that the hospital had been
notified that it would soon receive an additional $53,900 in tobacco
settlement funds. He noted that the funds were not particularly
restricted as to use. Joe Locke commented that the purchase of a new
ambulance might be a good use of the funds.
Gardner referred to the statement of
revenue and expense, which showed the hospital having a loss of
$148,013 in March. He noted that low patient volumes and related
revenues were responsible for the loss and added that the low volumes
were continuing into April as well. Gardner said that despite the nine
month fiscal year loss of $134,765, the hospital was experiencing a
positive cash flow since non-cash depreciation and amortization
expenses totalled over $850,000.
Following the usual unanimous vote to
approve the payment of obligations as they became due and the funds
were available, the meeting was declared adjourned. |
