RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

BOARD MEETING 

April 26, 2022 

The Kiowa County Hospital District Board met in regular session on April 26, 2022, at 6:32 p.m. at Cobblestone Inn Meeting Room. 

District Board members present were: Mary Eikner, Claire Prince, Ken Flory, and Craig Kerfoot. 

Others present: Shannon Dixon, Jeanette Filpi, Rachel Bletzacker, Renay Crain, Pam Cole, Raina Lucero, Morgan King, Abby Huff, Amy Lucas, Dr. Gary Morsch, and Beth Spady. 

CALL TO ORDER 

The meeting was called to order by Craig Kerfoot, Chairman of the Board at 6:32 pm. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES 

A motion was made by Mary Eikner to approve the March 22, 2022 and April 5, 2022 minutes as presented. Motion seconded by Claire Prince. All aye. 

PUBLIC COMMENT 

There was no public comment. 

PRESENTATION 

Dr. Gary Morsch and Amy Lucas with Docs Who Care (DWC) visited with the Board about the services they provide from a clinical perspective. DWC has been in business for 27 years and focuses on rural critical access hospitals in six states. Dr. Morsch discussed the type of providers and service that DWC strive to provide. KCHD and DWC have been partners since 2013. In addition to provider coverage, DWC is assisting with or has assisted with Chief of Staff responsibilities, Quality Improvement programs and upgrades to KCHD housing. 

CREDENTIALING 

Dr. Ross Barner was approved for temporary privileges by Med Staff. Lane Looka, NP, Abby Huff, PA, Dr. Benjamin Clower, and Dr. Rolf Kirby were approved for active privileges by Med Staff. Dr. Eric Lyders, Dr. Stephen George, Dr. Jeffrey Meier, Dr. Mark Brinckman, Dr. Michael Oakes, Dr. Travis Downes, Dr. Gregory Broering, Dr. Trystain Johnson, Dr. Benjamin Cooper, Dr. Sean Bryant, Dr. Bradley Fehrenbach, and Dr. John Gerhold were approved for telemedicine privileges by Med Staff. Motion to approve as presented by Ken Flory. Seconded by Mary Eikner. All aye. 

POLICIES & PROCEDURES 

The Board reviewed the summary of changes to the SQSS policy, lab legal blood draw policy, laundry infection control policy, and the copy and paste policy. The activities policy was tabled by the committee until next month. All policies were reviewed by the Policy Committee and approved by Med Staff. Motion was made by Ken Flory to approve the policies as presented. Seconded by Claire Prince. All aye. 

STANDING REPORTS 

CEO 

Several positions at KCHD have been filled but we continue to recruit while making efforts to retain our existing staff. To support these efforts, several changes have been made. The premium pay policy has been extended to the dietary, housekeeping, and laundry departments. Employees received a retention bonus. The minimum wage for positions at KCHD has been increased to $14/hr. KCHD has implemented a recruitment bonus for full and part time employees. Employees can now add 25 hours of PDO to their monthly check so dedicated employees no longer risk losing their PDO. 

Clinical staff are participating in case presentations on Tuesday mornings. This allows our providers an opportunity to discuss difficult or interesting patient cases as a group. 

KCHD attended the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) meeting last week. The LEPC group is looking to hold a tabletop exercise in the upcoming months. 

Board, staff, and volunteers will be receiving education on HIP AA and EMT ALA in the weeks to come. More information will be forthcoming. 

Staff are performing several operational assessments to include waste management, a mock survey at the clinic, review of our group purchasing organization (GPO), third party payor contracts, medical records, USAC grant/funding, COPIC and the 340B program. 

With the upcoming election, we are gathering resources for Board orientation and education. 

KCHD will begin to gather information on CEO recruitment for the new Board to review. 

CFO 

The Board received a written report from the CFO. 

The March financials were reviewed and showed a profit for the month and year to date. In March, days cash on hand was 225 and days in AR was 101. After finalizing the cost report, KCHD will pay money back to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The audit report will be presented in May. 

The Board reviewed a full-time equivalent report pertaining to staffing in each department. 

The clinic would like to purchase three exam tables and one handicap accessible exam table for a total of $5,800. Motion made by Ken Flory, seconded by Mary Eikner. All aye. 

The Hospital would like to purchase four IV pumps estimated at $3,300 each. COVID testing/mitigation 

funds can be used for this purchase. Motion made by Mary Eikner and seconded by Ken Flory. All aye.

CNO 

The dietary department is now offering a salad bar as a lunch option for staff throughout the week. We also have a new dietician that will be visiting soon to discuss menus, etc. 

The activities department visited with the Hospital Auxiliary in April about upcoming activities. The Hospital Auxiliary has provided a large patio box for storage and many new cushions for the patio chairs. 

KCHD continues to work with Cam Net/WestCom on integrating information from Athena to the care boards. The boards have allowed for family visits using the WestCom equipment. 

There were concerns regarding the finish work after the installation of the WestCom equipment. KCHD will complete a walk through to assess any outstanding issues. 

HOSPITAL QUALITY, SAFETY, & COMPLIANCE 

The Quality Report Scorecard was reviewed. Various measures including infection rate, medication errors, and falls were reviewed by the Board. 

KCHD received a 95% on the COPIC assessment. 

The first round of data has been submitted as part of our Hospital Transformation Program (HTP). 

Each department has received compliance condition of participation guidelines. These guidelines will help guide our quality and compliance work in the months to come. 

We continue to implement the Strategic Quality Support System (SQSS) and have started the process of implementing On Solve which is an internal notification system for employees. 

KCHD has started work with i2i which is a vendor that will help us meet HTP measures. 

The safety committee has been resumed and rounds are occurring on a routine basis. 

CLINIC 

The clinic renovations continue. The timeline has been pushed back due to issues with supply procurement. The State will be conducting a VFC/COVID compliance site visit on April 27th back up generator is in place until our new generator arrives in approximately six weeks. 

OLD BUSINESS 

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT 

The survey has been completed. We anticipate a start date in May of 2022.

ELECTION 

The ballots have been mailed. Judges and canvass board have been contacted and are in place.

NEW BUSINESS 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING (CDS) REQUEST 

KCHD submitted a 70 million dollar request to Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper for a 150,000 square foot modular replacement critical access hospital with 25 beds, a five bed emergency department with limited trauma capabilities, two outpatient procedural rooms, telemedicine suite, adjoining rural health clinic to accommodate six providers, EMS office with staging area, ten overnight hospitality rooms for visiting specialties/contracted traveling staff and limited administrative areas. 

Since the request submission, KCHD has had calls with the Colorado Hospital Association as well as Senator Bennet's office. Other funding opportunities are also being researched in the event the proposal is partially funded. 

ADJOURNMENT 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Kiowa County Hospital District Board Mary Eikner, Secretary-Treasurer