The Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems Board of Trustees heard the Auditor's Report for 2012 and 2011 at their meeting Monday night. Representatives Derek H. Hart, CPA and John R. Helms, CPA, representing Wendling, Noe, Nelson and Johnson LLC, Certified Public Accountants and Management Consultants of Topeka, Kansas were present at the meeting to present their report.
Derek H. Hart told the board, "We have audited the financial statements but the financial statements are the responsibility of the Health Systems management. Our responsibility is to express opinions on these financial statements based on our audits. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the business-type activity and the discretely presented component unit of Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems as of March 31, 2012 and 2011, and their respective results of operations, changes in net assets, and cash flows for the years that ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America."
Hart, along with Helms help discussed MCHHS Balance Sheets including their Liabilities and Net Assets along with their Long-Term Obligations. The total liabilities and net assets amount to $33,691,592. They also covered the operating revenues and expenses for 2012 totaling $24,217,442 as opposed to these same figures for 2011, which amounted to $22,847,445.
Some of the factors Hart listed that made changes in the amount of overall revenues the hospital received included the renovation project, the changes they made to their employee health care plan, material adjustments and the asset of the Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation. The lease agreement on the MRI machine was also a factor. Hart and Helms discussed upcoming changes the government is going to be making in the Medicare program in the near future that will drastically affect the bottom line of Critical Access Hospitals.
Jan Kimmerer, Director of Nursing, and Julie Olson made a presentation to the board requesting the purchase of Krono's Scheduling Software. This is a computer software program to help them do the nursing scheduling on a daily basis. Olson said the professional service would set up the database for them. Olson said right now they are doing all the scheduling for 120 nurses by hand. She feels with this scheduling program she can manage her office time on a much more efficient basis. She was asked what amount of time she thought this program would save her on a daily basis. She estimated it would save 40 to 50 percent of her time since the schedule changes every day. The overall cost of the program they are looking at has a total cost of $43,870 including training and implementation of the program. There is a $935 annual license maintenance fee. Administrator David Dick recommended that this system be purchased. The Board of Trustees moved to purchase the system.
Director of Nursing, Jan Kimmerer, presented information on the H Cap surveys the government is now requiring them to have done when a patient is released from the hospital. Even though the hospital now does a survey on their own, starting January 1, 2013 they will be required to pay an outside service to conduct the surveys when the patients are released from the hospital. The surveyor will have to have a 24-hour medication certification. The surveyor will ask the patient questions and collect data before they fill out their report. The hospital will have to obtain a high score on the survey or they wont get paid, she said. This should only amount to about 100 surveys a year since certain restrictions apply. Only Medicare approved consultants can be contracted to do these surveys. The board voted to comply with this government required program.
Administrator Dick and CFO Eldon Koepke reported on their progress with the Meditech implementation. They have sent the information to the programming part of the system. It will electronically review each individual bill and then APEX will send out the statements. After they become more comfortable with this system they can do this by an automatic process. Koepke was asked how much he estimated is still listed in accounts receivable waiting to be billed out and he said he estimated this to be something over a million dollars right now.
Administrator Dick updated the board on their progress in the Meaningful Use Program. He said they had hoped to have it done by the end of September but are very doubtful now that they will have the data finished for the report. It has to be verified and ready to send in. It will probably be the end of October before they finally have that done. Regretfully, he said, they will lose the 20 percent stimulus money they could have received if they had finished it sooner which would have amounted to approximately 30 to 40 thousand dollars. They still have phase two and three yet to do, Mr. Dick said.
The Cardiac Rehab Unit was moved to its new location last week so the Board of Directors met in their regular boardroom near the main entrance to the hospital this month. Administrator Dick said it took a year and a half to get the Rehab Unit completed but he is very satisfied with the room it was moved to and with the easy access into the building from the new parking lot just outside the door.
Administrator Dick said the hospital has not received any approved contracts back from the Kan-Care Program yet. There are three different companies offering contracts so they will surely receive information about this soon. The Administrator explained the Community Health Assessment program they are working on and the process they are going through to complete it.
CFO Eldon Koepke spoke to the board about the Corporate Compliance/Code of Conduct. He explained that he exchanged words and made changes and adjustments to the code for the board to look over and approve. After discussion the board approved this code as presented to them by Koepke. The board discussed Capitol Equipment Purchases that included Ultrasound Equipment. CFO Koepke presented the Financial and Budget reports, the Finance Committee Report and the statistics that went along with these reports.
Years of Service Awards were as follows: Carol Cordel, Acute/Surgery 35 years; Sharon Larson, 30 years in Physical Therapy; Rose Hicks, 5 years, Surgery; Lori May, 5 years, Wellness Center and Nate Richards, 5 years as Director of Information Technology.
Board Chairman, Curt Frasier, closed the meeting and the board went into executive session to discuss Medical Staff Credentials and Risk Management before they adjourned for the evening.