The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors met for its monthly gathering on Thursday, Aug. 27 inside the hospital’s conference room with the approval of several sales tax items on the docket along with financial reports, executive updates, policy approvals, and more.
The minutes from July’s meeting and a called meeting on Aug. 11 were approved to kick things off. Controller Matt Pace followed with financial updates. Volumes were consistent across most departments compared to June with Swing Bed, Home Health, and Senior Care seeing increases. The gross patient revenue totaled $3,542,505 while the net operating revenue was $1,787.220 and there was a net loss of $197,167. The sales tax fund added $112,648.52 to bring the total to $5,966,354.74.
CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt started her portion with acknowledging the volume increase in Senior Care and Swing Bed and said the hospital has to continue actively marketing both services to sustain the numbers. Revenue was consistent and despite the operating loss, there has been improvement in the last four months so it’s trending in the right direction. July was tough on cash though with three payrolls and having to pay the building insurance. Huitt explained that expenses are right in line with the budget and gross revenue year-to-date is also in line with the budget. The operating loss comes from projected contractual adjustments and lower net patient revenue.
This led into Huitt’s next segment with collections issues leading to lower net patient revenue and that is being addressed. BCMC is set to enter an agreement with HRC (HealthRecon Connect) for end-to-end revenue cycle management, pending a legal review of the service agreement. If all goes to plan, they will begin on Nov. 1. HRC will train staff and handle coding, billing, denial management, payment posting, soft pay collections, and will introduce AI into the registration process to help with missing insurance.
Huitt continued with some more praise for BJ Kidwell in the Emergency Department from both patients and staff. She informed the board about the cafeteria changes that went into effect on Monday, Aug. 24. There is no longer a serving line with staff and guests having to order food from a website or app. This move is expected to save the hospital around $3,700 a week. There are also plans to install a vending machine that will have salads, sandwiches, soups, and more available 24/7.
She addressed the Aug. 11 called meeting that dealt with the X-ray room that stopped functioning quicker than anticipated. Instead of repairing the room, the board decided to move forward with replacing it at a cost of $242,600. It was already bid out and was on the capital budget. Installation is set to begin on Sept. 21 and X-rays are currently being done by the portable machine.
Huitt concluded with a few remarks about Arkansas’s Medicaid Expansion Plan being denied by the federal government. This will hurt BCMC though there is a request for an extension to submit a revised plan. It has been announced that BCMC will receive some Rural Health Transformation funds, but the total amount is not known yet. Her final update was that general surgeon Dr. Sam Arnold is back and has already been busy.
Several items were up for a vote for the usage of sales tax funds. The first item was the vending machine for sandwiches, soups, salads, and more, at a cost of $12,900. The second item was a new stretcher for the ER coming in at a price of $5,208.18. Next on the list was an incubator for surgery at a cost of $1,701.83. This piece of equipment is outdated, and parts can’t be found anymore. Next on the list was Fortigate Firewall for IT totaling $6,942.15. A CT injector is needed for a cost of $8,354.96, while the final item was a refrigerator for laboratory for $6,576.28. There was unanimous approval to use sales tax funds for the purchase of those items.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe let the board know his biggest concern is reducing expenses by scheduling nurses more efficiently to make sure there aren’t too many working at one time. Additionally, he said we are still having problems transferring patients.
Leeanna Williams, Chief Operating Officer, updated the board on a new test that MRI can perform on prostates. This will not require new equipment or purchases and there will be a marketing push soon to let the community know. BCMC will be making presentations on Cardiac-Pulmonary Rehabilitation at the YMCA on Sept. 3 and the Hampton Senior Citizen’s Center on Sept. 10.
There are several plans in place for Breast Cancer Awareness that include an event at the Warren City Park on Saturday, Oct. 3. There will be a tailgate at one Warren High School football game during the month, and plans are to go to a game in Hermitage, Rison, and Woodlawn. She concluded her portion by announcing the American Heart Association donated 60 blood pressure cuffs to the BCMC Rural Health Clinic for patients to loan and use at home to monitor their blood pressure.
Three policy manuals were up for annual approval with Employee Health, Laboratory, and IT up for a vote. All three were approved by the board unanimously. The board went into executive session and approved medical staff recommendations unanimously once they returned to regular season. The meeting was then adjourned with no further business.
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