WARREN, Ark. (4/14/25) – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors held it’s March meeting, originally scheduled for March 27, on Thursday, April 10 after a quorum couldn’t be present at the original date. The meeting took place inside the Education Room at the hospital.
Minutes from the previous meeting were approved before the board watched an audit report via Zoom. CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt said it was a tough task compiling all the information for the audit due to changing EHR (electronic health records) systems during the reporting period, but the auditors reported it was a clean audit.
The gathering transitioned to the financial reports presented by Controller Matt Pace. Pace informed the board that swing bed days were up, and ER visits were steady. Gross patient revenue for February was $3,544,915 and the net operating revenue came in at $1,628,890. Accounts receivable decreased by $521,000, but the majority was due to write-offs. The sales tax fund added a little over $114,000 last month to bring the fund’s total to $5,242,870.52.
Huitt then gave her report and started by saying there are some things that aren’t trending in the right direction. She stated there are too many contractual adjustments and was concerned about the amount of accounts receivable decreasing due to write-offs. The hospital needs to collect $1.7-$1.8M a month to cover expenses and the money is there to collect, but we are writing off too much or adjusting off too much. She did say that year-to-date cash is 4.6% higher than last year and investment funds have increased.
Other items she touched on were some concerns about Medicare and Medicare Advantage. They do not want to approve patients for inpatient stays, which has a significant impact on the Medicare Cost Report. The Cost Report was not great, but part of that is due to the hospital decreasing expenses and costs per day. She believes Medicare will trend back up though. She finished by stating they will do more Interim Rate Adjustments rather than just once a year.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe let the board know about daily huddles with himself, nurse managers, charge nurses, and physicians about discharge planning. This is an effort to provide better patient care and keep costs down for the hospital. The physicians are making an effort to attend these huddles more often, which is good to see. He spoke about how frustrating it can be with discharges because some don’t have a safe place to go to, or they may need more time at the hospital but can’t get approved by their insurance or InterQual.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams began her time by touching on the successful move of the Respiratory Therapy Department to where Labor and Delivery was. This is also where sleep studies are being conducted and there has been positive feedback for this new location from patients. Williams added that they are looking into adding Pulmonary Rehab as a new service line. Respiratory Director Sharee Williams recently completed a certification for Pulmonary Rehab and they are both traveling to Howard Memorial Hospital in Nashville, Ark., to overserve their workflow in the near future.
The meeting transitioned to annual policy approvals. The policy manuals for Materials Management and Security were up for annual approval and both were passed by the board unanimously.
Other business included using sales tax funds to purchase another boiler to replace one that went out recently. The expense isn’t known yet, but the board approved the use of sales tax funds to purchase it unanimously. Huitt also wants to obtain a couple of more design options for the master plan. The board approved the use of sales tax funds unanimously to receive more designs.
The board went into executive session and medical staff recommendations were approved before the meeting was adjourned.
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