WARREN, Ark. – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors met inside the BCMC Conference Room Tuesday, Oct. 22 for its monthly meeting with a presentation from WCMS, Inc., and Ideal Construction starting the meeting off before going into normal business.
Dwayne Wilson and several other team members from Wilson Consulting and Management Services (WCMS), Inc., along with representatives from Ideal Construction began the meeting with a presentation on the schematic design phase of the master plan for Bradley County Medical Center. Each board member was given a 136-page booklet to review on their own time with WCMS, Inc., and Ideal Construction hitting some of the high points during their presentation. Board members and hospital staff were able to ask questions and raise concerns, but no action was taken during the meeting.
The minutes from the September meeting were approved unanimously once the meeting moved on. Controller Matt Pace reported surgeries and senior care days were up considerably from the prior year, while most other service lines were around the same as last year or slightly below. The gross patient revenue in September was $3,927,409, while the net operating revenue totaled $2,985,090. Pace informed the board of a net income of $1,019,367, while the sales tax fund added a little over $115,000 to bring the total to $4,861.263.
CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt told the board that while the income statement looked great for the month, it was due to a receivable entry that affected contractual adjustments. This is because of how long it takes to settle the Medicaid Cost Report as they only pay 80% initially and the other 20% later. BCMC was just paid for 2015 and has been informed that 2016-18 is finished and will result in the hospital receiving a total of $909,099 for those years. Additionally, there is another estimated $1 million for 2019-23 to come later.
Huitt spent some time discussing the revenue cycle and some of the issues she is seeing. She gave the board a detailed report about what each function of the revenue cycle is supposed to perform and some observations on why it isn’t working as well as it should be with a plan to have more discussion after the board has a chance to look over the report. Cash decreased, Accounts Receivable increased, and unbilled revenue continues to be an issue.
To round out her time, Huitt presented an updated budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which was approved unanimously. The board also agreed to use sales tax money to repair the floor in a section of the surgery department. The last order of business for Huitt was about the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) price transparency guidelines. The hospital has some time to get this information corrected but may need to use a consulting firm. The use of sales tax funds was approved by the board, if necessary.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe touched on the Senior Care Unit. The census has been steadily improving but there are some open positions he hopes to fill soon. One of the positions that is coming open will be for Jean Rhodes, who is retiring in the coming weeks. Wolfe said she’s been working at BCMC for a long time and wanted to thank her for her hard work over the years.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams told the board about Medicare Open Enrollment, which is currently underway until Dec. 7. People can make appointments through BCMC’s Social Services Director Jennifer Handly on a Tuesday or Thursday leading up to the deadline. Janet Pack from the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership and BCMC’s Community Health Worker Dejah Battles are teaming up to help people through that process.
Williams also took the time to talk about Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and language-based nondiscrimination that will affect a number of policies moving forward. Annual policy approvals for the Information Technology (IT) and Maintenance manuals were both passed unanimously. A single policy for Emergency Department Patients Without a Primary Care Provider was passed unanimously along with a policy concerning the designation of a Section 1557 Coordinator as a duty of the Compliance Officer.
There was no executive session and medical staff recommendations were approved before the meeting was adjourned.
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