WARREN, Ark. (9/28/26) – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors gathered for its monthly meeting Thursday, Sept. 24 inside the hospital’s conference room. This meeting was the final one of the fiscal year with Oct. 1 marking the beginning of a new fiscal year. Financial updates, executive updates, policy approvals, and usage of sales tax funds were among the topics covered.
The meeting began with unanimous approval of the minutes from the August meeting followed by Controller Matt Pace’s report. Service lines were up almost across the board the previous month and the total gross patient revenue came in at $3,691,631. The net operating revenue totaled $1,799,750 with a net income of $142,959 reported. The sales tax fund collected $130,524.34 to bring the fund’s total amount to $6,039,836.77.
BCMC CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt said August was a better month for the hospital and fortunately that trend had continued into September. Revenue and collections were both up and the operating loss was significantly lower. Cash did decrease, but not at the rate it had been. She noted that home health visits were one area where there was a decrease, but they had bounced back so far in September. She explained that the average days in account receivable for home health is 28 and that they are excelling at their operations.
She continued by mentioning growth in the BCMC Rural Health Clinic as they saw 50 new patients last month and that has continued into this month. Huitt noted that Oct. 1 is the beginning of the new fiscal year and that it is also inventory time so it’s a busy time of the year. Additionally, the new revenue cycle company, HealthRecon Connect, is set to begin on Nov. 1.
Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe highlighted the therapy staff that work with swing bed patients inside the hospital. It can be a tough job at times as patients don’t always want to do their therapy, but our staff is friendly and able to get them to do what is needed. Huitt added that a big part of the increased revenue is from swing bed and said Marketing Director Tiffany White deserves some credit for that in addition to the great job the therapy staff does.
Wolfe concluded his portion by informing the board that the Mindray Telemetry equipment was recently installed in ER and med/surg. This new equipment comes with greater functionality and allows the med/surg staff to monitor more patients than before.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams told the board the amount of money the hospital received as a part of the Rural Health Transformation Program. There is $250,000 for telehealth expansion and $125,500 for the reopening of the IOP (Intensive Outpatient Program) service line. Both of those were awarded with the help of the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership. The hospital also received $100,000 for IT infrastructure with the help of UAMS.
Williams continued by letting the board know about some upcoming events the hospital will participate in. The first was a tailgate that was going on at the time of the meeting at Chapel Woods Health and Rehabilitation. BCMC will partner with Commercial Bank for its annual tailgate prior to Warren’s home football game on Friday, Oct. 2 against Monticello. There will be free hot dogs, drinks, and more available to those who stop by. The next day (Saturday, Oct. 3) there will be a “Pink in the Park” event at the Warren City Park in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There will be activities for kids, live entertainment, the ability to schedule a mammogram, vendors, and more beginning at 10 a.m.
The meeting then moved to annual policy approvals. The policy manuals for the Radiology Department and Risk Management were put to a vote, and both were approved unanimously by the board. The next item on the agenda concerned the lease for DaVita Dialysis at the Brunson Medical Complex. There was supposed to have been a 2% Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment that had not been applied in the prior agreement. However, DaVita agreed to adjust for it in the upcoming lease agreement. The agreement was approved unanimously by the board.
Huitt then continued with a request for sales tax funds. The air conditioning controls in surgery need to be repaired and upgraded as they can’t have fluctuations in temperature during operations. The cost will be $126,434 but needs to go through a bid process. The board unanimously approved the usage of sales tax funds.
The board went into executive session and approved medical staff recommendations once they returned to regular session. The board approved an agreement with UAMS for management consulting and co-branding before 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.
