WARREN, Ark. – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors held its monthly meeting Thursday, June 27 inside the hospital’s conference room. Volumes, financials, ARPA funding, policy approvals, and property insurance were among the many topics discussed.
Once the minutes from last month’s meeting were approved, Controller Matt Pace gave an update on the financials of BCMC. Swing bed and chronic care management volumes were up significantly, while senior care, occupational therapy, and emergency room visits also increased. The hospital reported a gross patient revenue of $4,081,266 with a net operating revenue of $1,828,383. The sales tax revenue was a little more than $114,000 and the sales tax fund is at $4,553,963.53.
Positives regarding financials were the first topic covered by CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt in her report. Huitt informed the board of an operating cash increase of $204,000 along with a $48,000 increase in investments. May was also the highest month of collections since the transition to MEDITECH back in late January. However, accounts receivable is increasing and has a negative impact on the financial performance. Even with the increased collections in May, this needs to be increased by two to three times.
Huitt continued by expressing concern about a lack of manpower for collections, especially as it pertains to the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. The hospital did not meet the target goals for the six-month mark. The hospital can still receive all of the funding if they meet the 12-month goals. There was a lengthy discussion about the collections process and what steps need to be made to make it more efficient.
An update on the budget was given by Huitt as one of the goals was to start this process earlier and get more engagement from department managers in the process. MEDITECH has departmental reports that allow them to see their monthly revenue and expenses. The interim cost report was completed with Medicare and isn’t showing a huge receivable or payment. She ended her time by saying the most recent meetings on the schematic building design have been more positive after some frustrating ones initially.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe notified the board that the lights in surgery, while still functioning properly, were going to need to be replaced soon. He’s in the process of gathering bids and the board unanimously approved the use of up to $70,000 to obtain the new lighting equipment.
Leeanna Williams, Chief Operating Officer, filled the board in on the M*A*S*H program currently underway at BCMC. The program this year is only one week instead of two like in years past. Additionally, she let the board know about the change in statement types with MEDITECH. With MEDITECH patients will get a guarantor statement and receive less statements overall than when BCMC was with CPSI, which would send out multiple statements and could make it confusing on what has been paid and what hasn’t.
The Respiratory Therapy Department Manual was up for annual approval and was passed unanimously by the board. There were two updated policies concerning the use and cleaning of the whirlpool as a part of the corrective action plan from the Arkansas Department of Health survey. Both policies were approved unanimously.
The BCMC Rural Health Clinic just had its Medicare Survey a couple of weeks ago and did very well on it. The corrective action plan has already been submitted. The final item before the executive session was approval of property insurance. There was some brief discussion about the price increase, but the board approved it unanimously.
After executive session medical staff recommendations were approved and the meeting was adjourned.
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