Special to The Eagle
The Bradley County Medical Center Governing Board met Friday, Sept. 29 in the hospital’s conference room for its monthly meeting with higher volumes at the BCMC Rural Health Clinic, steady volumes for the hospital, action items for the DRCHSD Grant, and financial items among the many topics reviewed during the session.
Once the minutes for the previous board meeting were approved, there was a small presentation on an assessment of BCMC’s insurance just to give some background on the topic. Further discussion is planned for future meetings.
Controller Matt Pace reported that the hospital’s volumes remained steady in August and that the BCMC Rural Health Clinic had a substantial increase in volumes. Gross patient revenue was $4,084,290 while the net operating revenue was $1,886,318. There was around $115,000 in sales tax revenue and there is a total of $4,011,962.37 in the sales tax fund.
BCMC CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt stated swing bed days are still going up and showed the board the financial impact of swing bed on the hospital showing the importance of that service line. She also mentioned the new fiscal year will start on Oct. 1. Huitt also updated the board on action items from the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development Grant action items dealing with the telehealth strategy.
Huitt continued with an update on RAPA (Radiology Associates, P.A.) and their price increase to provide radiologists for BCMC. The CEO/CFO stated other options had been explored, but ultimately RAPA provides great service, and she recommended approving paying their price increase. A motion was made to approve paying the increase and was passed unanimously by the board. The board also approved the use of sales-tax funds to pay the consulting firm Tegria for helping BCMC with its implementation of Meditech.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe attended the UAMS IDHI Stroke Conference in Hot Springs and said it was very educational. Wolfe also took a moment to brag on the Emergency Room staff. They had one day where multiple emergencies happened all at the same time, including a couple of strokes, and the staff handled it very well and even stayed longer than their shift to help get through the rush.
Additionally, Wolfe informed the board of the mandatory Nursing Skills Fair to take place Oct. 2-6 and spoke about Dr. Sam Arnold beginning as a general surgeon. He will be here every other Tuesday and Thursday and the CNO complimented the surgery staff for their hard work.
Policies up for annual approval were from the Pharmacy and Radiology departments. Both were confirmed by the board.
Medical staff recommendations were approved, and the board went into executive session to conclude the meeting.
