WARREN, Ark. – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors came together for its monthly meeting on Thursday, Aug. 22 inside the hospital’s conference room. Topics covered during the meeting included financials, facility updates, volumes, COVID-19 cases, and more.
The minutes from the previous month’s meeting were approved unanimously to start things off. Controller Matt Pace reported to the board that surgeries and home health visits were up, while most other services were slightly down. Pace informed the board of the gross patient revenue of $3,929,737 during July with a net operating revenue of $1,448,225. The hospital reported a loss of $603,288 though cash on hand increased by around $385,000. Pace concluded by letting the board know there was $109,603 of sales tax money collected to put a total of $4,688,353 in the sales tax fund.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams presented in the place of CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt, who was out at a conference. Williams talked about the relation between operating margin and days in accounts receivable. BCMC will be participating in a Denials Management Cohort through a program with the Arkansas Department of Health. Leslie Huitt attended the initial meeting for the cohort this week.
In other news, Williams updated the board on the facilities and maintenance. The compressor in one of the air conditioners went out and needs repairs, though a workaround has it functioning for the time being. She also spoke briefly about the repairs to the air unit over the MRI maintenance room and said there are meetings scheduled next month about the master plan. Williams also wanted to give a shoutout to Maintenance Director Tim Saunders and staff for all of the work they are doing.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe notified the group of the increase in COVID-19 cases at the hospital. He said BCMC had 17 cases in July and are up to 20 in August so far, but most are mild. Emergency room visits are up so far in August, which means volumes for the hospital are trending upward, but there is a push to get more patients in senior care and swing bed.
Wolfe wanted to thank Human Resources Manager Brooke Hatch for a Summer Training Series she put together for managers recently. He talked about the importance of those managers and providing them tools to help them oversee their departments.
The board then moved to policy approvals with only one manual up for annual review. The Nursing Policy Manual was approved unanimously by the board. Williams also spoke to the board about some information in their packets and let them know that the company that completes these phone surveys is going to be able to start doing them in Spanish at no extra cost. This will hopefully lead to an increase in responses.
The meeting moved into an executive session with medical staff recommendations approved afterwards. With no other business the meeting was adjourned.
For the latest news and updates regarding BCMC please like the Bradley County Medical Center Facebook page or follow us on Instagram (BCMCWarren) or X, formerly Twitter (@BCMC Warren). To keep up with the most recent news and updates for the BCMC Rural Health Clinic, please like the BCMC Rural Health Clinic page on Facebook.
