The Box Butte General Hospital Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting Monday at noon instead of the regular 7 p.m. in order to have a quorum to conduct business. Secretary Treasurer Ted Bohlen chaired the noon meeting due to the excused absence of David Briggs.
A large item on the agenda included a request for the Trustees to sign a $408,000 contract with Healthland, the health information system vendor for the hospital. The contract entails migrating to Healthland’s new Centriq platform. Due at the time of signing is $40,000, with the remainder to be paid in stages as the project progresses. COO/CIO Jim Parks explained that the reason the hospital has to upgrade is the Affordable Care Act and its provisions to comply with Stage II Meaningful Use requirements. The hospital has been operating on the financial system installed by Healthland since 1995, and on the clinical system the past seven years. Mr. Parks said he and Clinical IT Informationist Nancy Ross researched other top vendors in the hospital market, and found it would be a minimum investment of $1-million to go with a vendor other than Healthland. Efforts by Ms. Ross and CFO Tracy Jatczak have resulted in the hospital being essentially reimbursed for the upgrade by certifying Medicaid Meaningful Use of the hospital’s electronic health records. Doing so means the Medicaid system will pay BBGH $538,500, of which $259,000 has already been received. Another $215,000 will be paid next year, with the remaining $54,000 the year following. The board unanimously approved the contract.
Mr. Parks also presented a PowerPoint updating the Trustees on the new addition plans, as developed so far (see illustrations at page bottom). One difference from previous renderings is changing the main staircase from a straight line to one where it turns 90 degrees halfway down its length. Stressed again was how the new structure and its orientation reduces the number of public entrances to the facility to three (ED entrance; main entrance and clinic building – Medical Arts Plaza – entrance). The current Rehab and Wellness Center in the back of the building remains the same. He pointed out some of the details of the project, including the fact that the canopies over the main and clinic building entrances aren’t connected to the building. That is due to new building codes requiring canopies attached to a building having fire sprinkler systems installed. While the outside aspects of the project are pretty much completed, inside design is still being reviewed and revised, with at least one to two more meetings with architects envisioned before finalization. It was also mentioned the hospital plans to have mockup rooms (e.g. patient care room, OR room) built at the former ALCO building so staff can actually use a room and experience it prior to actual construction. The board had several questions. One was if remodeling the old patient care unit space for other use was part of the new project budget. Mr. Parks said it wasn’t; explaining remodeling of those rooms would be done in-house and at minimum costs. Ground breaking could begin as soon as June or July of this year, he concluded.
The board addressed the following agenda items.
The board recognized Austin Sheldon, PT, DPT, as January’s Employee of the Month. Also recognized was Timothy Narjes, MD, as the Provider of Choice, fourth quarter 2012. Employees were introduced, including new Greater Nebraska Medical & Surgical Services providers Vic Fattig, MD; Terri Bowland, DO; and Kathy Barth, PA-C. Also introduced were Erik Ilg, RN, Emergency Department; Kate Brummer, OT, Rehab & Wellness Center; and Elizabeth Premberton, Cook Assistant, Dietary.
After unanimously approving the consent calendar, the board was presented the monthly Quality Management and Safety Report from Special Services Director Mary Mockerman. She praised surgery and technical staff for identifying an error in instructions well before potential harm may have occurred to a patient and reporting that error so procedures can be improved. The Capture Falls Initiative Team will be led by Abby Keilwitz, PT, DPT and Kate Brummer, OTD. A process to implement a post-fall huddle will be included in the hospital’s fall reduction plan. Ms. Mockerman said influenza is still being reported as widespread in Nebraska. Although Box Butte County is seeing a decrease in activity, BBGH will continue visitation restrictions. She said influenza activity usually comes in waves and there will probably be another wave or two of smaller outbreaks before flu season is over.
With no Chief of Staff report, the board went on to hear Controller Lori Mazanec present the December financials. December closed with an increase in net assets of $217,000, compared to a decrease of $64,000 a year ago. Year-to-date patient service revenues are 4.7 percent behind budget; however, they have increased over $1-million when compared to a year ago. December operating expenses were $91,000, or 3 percent under budget, with year-to-date expenses under budget by $458,000. December operating income totaled $170,000, $230,000 short of what was budgeted. Ms. Mazanec reported with the hospital half way through its budget year, operations have delivered a gain of $762,000. Taken together with revenue from non-operating sources, the year-to-date increase in net assets stands at $844,000, 7.5 percent lower than projected.
CEO Dan Griess presented conflict of interest statements that needed to be signed by the trustees, which is an annual requirement. The trustees so signed.
After Mr. Parks presented the monthly strategic plan by going through the Enhance Buildings and Equipment and the Advance the Application of Information Technology strategic initiatives, Mr. Griess handed out the September – November 2012 Press Ganey HCAHPS Summary Report. He pointed out several domain results of patient satisfaction ranked the hospital in the upper 90th percentile when compared to 1,690 hospitals surveyed nationwide. Mr. Griess said while there are areas where improvement can be made, having four out of eight domains in the 90th percentile or higher indicates hospital staff is doing a remarkable job in patient care and satisfaction.
The monthly governance focus and a planned executive session for a performance evaluation of Mr. Griess were tabled. The board adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m. with the next board meeting being held Monday, February 25 at 7 p.m. in the Alliance Room. As always, the public is invited to attend.
