The Mitchell County Hospital Health Systems Board of Trustees met last night for their monthly meeting. Among the topics discussed was the Solomon Valley Transportation grant, which has allowed them to expand into Osborne County using part-time drivers. $14,000 was contributed toward this effort ($12,000 of that contributed by the Osborne County Commission, $2,000 by private donors) and the total budget for this expansion is $181,000 for 2014-2015. They have also received a 14-passenger bus that is wheelchair accessible ahead of schedule. Solomon Valley Transportation currently has a lease agreement with the hospital for another vehicle, for which they hold the insurance, so the Board proposed and approved that they present Solomon Valley Transportation with the option to have that vehicle titled to them for their exclusive use.
The Board was informed that the Health Systems will participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield's quality incentives, which will track and report six months worth of information and qualifies them for a decreased rate of 1.25% due to joining an electronic records program. That electronic records program is now set up for patient surveys and will open January 1, 2014. First reports of customer experience will be available around 90 days after the inception of the program.
The State of Kansas is sending and paying for an outside contractor to travel to nursing homes to perform surveys. MCHHS has elected to participate in these voluntary surveys.
The electronic records program that MCHHS is putting in place must be up and running by July 1, 2014. They will receive the final components of this programming by the end of December 2013, and could be assessed a penalty of 1/3 of 1% in 2015 if the program is not in place by that date with 5% of discharged patients utilizing the site.
The Sunflower Health Network has voted not to continue with the consulted that had previously met with, but will continue the discussion on whether or not to link some of the area hospitals into one network while considering looking for a new consultant.
Two current Board members, Pat Gray and Curt Frasier, are currently up for re-appointment. They are both willing to keep serving on the Board, so the County Commission will discuss the topic at their next meeting.
Employee years of service were also recognized. Those mentioned were Kathy Mallory, five years, Karen Grelinger, 10 years, Greta Howland, 20 years, and Juanita Whitlow, 40 years.
The Board also moved and passed that in service retirement distributions be made available at the request of Human Resources Director Phyllis Oetting. They approved the effective age to be moved from 65 to 62 years of age and that the employee taking a distribution still be allowed to work part-time, pending approval of the current retirement plan and amendment of said documents.
Hospital Auxillary Board member Vickie Mears came to the Board's meeting to discuss changing the name of the maternity ward at the hospital to that of Dr. Doug Drake in his honor. The Board approved the measure and will discuss the details and date of the official change during a later meeting.
Finally, the Relay for Life team at MCHHS will be hosting their 5th annual Spirit of the Season Holiday Home Tour on December 8 from 1-5 PM to raise funds for the cause.
The Board then took a tour of the newly completed Solomon Valley Hospice in the old Port Library building before going into Executive Session to discuss medical staff credentials and risk management.