The Greenwood County Hospital (GWCH) Board of Trustees held a meeting on Thursday, March 27, where the board held a routine monthly meeting, as well as hearing an update from the Critical Issues Summit (CIS).
It was noted that several board and staff members attended the CIS, earlier this month. CIS for Hospital Boards is an event that brings together hospital leadership and trustees to discuss and learn about the most pressing issues facing hospitals today, focusing on good governance practices and best practices for hospital boards. The summit covered a variety of topics, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) in hospital settings, empowering rural communities, and networking. The GWCH board members attended roundtable discussions and spoke directly with their counterparts at other hospital facilities in Kansas. “There’s a lot of good information for boards,” said CEO Sandra Dickerson.
Dickerson presented the board with her CEO report, which covered several topics. “We are continuing to move forward with our Cerner/Oracle implementation,” said Dickerson. Cerner/Oracle is a cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) software solution used by healthcare organizations to streamline administrative processes and improve patient care. The GWCH staff participated in super user training this week. Integration testing will follow this training, and the hospital is on track for a golive date of June 2.
GWCH Board of Trustees Held Routine Meeting . . . . . . . .
Dickerson also shared that hospitalist Patty Ringer has resigned. Her position has been advertised, but no applications had been received as of last Thursday. Dickerson has reached out to several companies that provide hospitalist services and has received some initial information on whether this is a feasible solution. She told the board that she will keep them updated on the issue.
A hospitalist is a physician who specializes in providing comprehensive care to hospitalized patients, focusing on managing their medical needs during their stay. Hospitalists do rounds on patients, develop a care plan, prescribe medications and therapies, and perform many other duties.
Because the hospitalist position is open, GWCH ER providers will take on the role for now.
GWCH will be adding dermatology services back to the outreach clinic beginning in April as Advanced Dermatology out of Emporia will be sending a mid-level provider to the clinic on the first and third Thursday of each month.
Those interested will need to schedule with Advanced Dermatology.
CEO Dickerson shared that the Patterson Family Foundation would be releasing a new set of grant opportunities on April 1.
Dickerson said that she plans to submit a letter of intent. She stated, “We intend to bring mammography services back inhouse.” It was noted that currently, the wait time to receive mammography at GWCH is approximately four months. Grants being offered range between $100,000 and $500,000.
The cost of a new mammography machine is approximately $300,000. Dickerson intends to apply for that amount. CEO Dickerson explained that a letter of intent is required to start the grant application process with the expectation of finding out whether the grant is approved by August 2025.
On Monday, March 17, Pharmacist Isaac Boone went to Topeka to testify on the 340B program. The 340B Drug Discount Program, a federal initiative, allows certain hospitals and healthcare organizations to purchase outpatient drugs at discounted prices, enabling them to stretch limited resources and serve more patients, particularly those who are low-income or uninsured.
Recently, pharmaceutical companies have been attempting to limit hospitals to one contract pharmacy.
“By doing so, they have made it so that our patients using the Howard Clinic must come up to the Eureka Clinic to access 340B medications,” stated CEO Dickerson. “The bill was passed out of committee, and it then went to the Senate for a vote. It passed out of the Senate with a vote of 34 to 6. The bill has now moved to the House,” she continued. Dickerson recommended the board contact State House Representative Dr. Duane Droge.
Currently, 91 Kansas hospitals participate in the 340B Program.
The board heard a fi nance report from CFO Melody Curnutt, who explained that GWCH operating expenses had stayed about the same during the month of February. Notable changes for February: a check totaling $136,000 had been received for 340B for the pharmacy, and a new capital lease agreement for computers had been accepted. The amount for the lease is $157,000.
Overall, the financials for February have remained stable.
The board voted to approve the appointment of Ali Sharif, MD, to the position of Radiology Consultant. Also, reappointments were approved. These were Shota Yamamoto, MD; James Summa, MD; and Erick Olsen, MD; Radiology Consulting; and Dusty Atterbury, PA; Allied Health.
The Director of Nursing (DON) statistics were shared with the board; however, a detailed report wasn’t available as DON Sonjia Lemons was unable to attend the March meeting.
The board began the meeting with a short executive session to discuss risk management and quality. No action was taken during the session.
The next GWCH Board of Trustees meeting will be held on April 24, at 5:30 p.m.
