The Kiowa County Hospital District and County Board met in regular session on January 24, 2017 at 6:33 p.m. at the Bank Meeting Room.

District Board members present were: Robert Woods, Mary Eikner, Sylvia Shields, Priscilla Waggoner and Cathryn Anderson.

County Board members present were: Kim Harris, Craig Kerfoot, John Negley and Dennis Pearson. Absent: Lori Shalberg (called)

Others present: Tristen Sheridan, Shannon Dixon, Char Korrell, Kevin Siefkas and Cindy McLoud.

The meeting was called to order by Mary Eikner, Chairman of the Board.

COUNTY VOTING MEMBERS: Craig Kerfoot, John Negley and Dennis Pearson

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made to approve the November minutes by Sylvia Shields and Robert Woods seconded it. All aye.

AGENDA: Add Wendy/Grant and Grant Writer. A motion was made by Dennis Pearson to approve the Agenda as amended and it was seconded by Priscilla Waggoner. All aye.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

FINANCE COMMITTEE: The December financials were reviewed. We had a loss this month. The AR is being worked on and should be showing some improvements soon. Compared 2016 to 2015, we had a lot of extra expenses with locums and the CT project.

PLANNING COMMITTEE: We will hold off on a community meeting regarding strategic planning until later in the year.

GRANT COMMITTEE: Tristen has sent in the fourth quarter summary for DOLA and Caring for Colorado. We have currently spent $293,832.04 on this project and still have $536,189.96 left. The CT machine is scheduled to be installed the week of February 14. DOLA came for a visit on January 19 and were very pleased with the project. We thought the CT tech would be certified by the end of December, but she still needs to complete her clinicals. We are looking for the second tech also. We must have someone available 24/7 who is certified to run the CT.

CREDENTIALING

Dr. Knaus, Dr. Hiam and delineation of privileges for Stephanie Green, NP, were reviewed. Med Staff approved privileges for all three. A motion was made by Priscilla Waggoner to approve all three for privileges and Craig Kerfoot seconded it. All aye.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES

We have the Clinic, Laundry, Physical Therapy and End of Life Options for review this month. It was decided by Med Staff that we will opt out of the End of Life ruling. A motion was made by Sylvia Shields to approve all policies presented and Craig Kerfoot seconded it. All aye.

OLD BUSINESS

PROVIDER RECRUITMENT: We are using Arthur Marshall for recruitment. We have not gotten any interest so far.

MARCUM HOUSE: We sold the Marcum House for $10,000. We closed on January 12, 2017.

NEW BUSINESS

ECU & HOSPITAL REPORT: The HCAHPS report was reviewed. Tristen reviewed the Colorado Rural Health Center’s Snapshot of Rural Health in Colorado. It has a lot of good information about rural Colorado. CRHC and Colorado Hospital Association both work to keep us small hospitals going.

Tristen participates in the PLC meetings every other week. They are discussing seven legislative issues that may affect rural hospitals. Everyone is welcome to come listen in on these meetings. They are every other week on Wednesdays.

QA/Department meeting reviewed reports from several departments.

Med Staff termed Dr. Santaguida’s privileges since he no longer works for us. Over the last two months, we have had three med errors, no falls and three possible flus. Dr. Feinsod did four psych reviews. We have a new resident so that brings us to 14.

We will be doing some new advertising. In March, our ads will be on the carts at Safeway. We are still using radio and newspaper ads also.

The Health Fair will be March 24 and 25.

POSTING PLACE: The posting places for 2017 will be the Post Office, Courthouse and Hospital. Sylvia Shields made a motion to approve the posting places and Priscilla Waggoner seconded it. All aye.

HOSPITAL AGREEMENTS: The Intergovernmental Agreement for Ambulance Services, Resolution for Licensing and Inspection for Ambulance Service and Hospital Service Agreement were reviewed. A motion was made by Robert Woods to approve these agreements and Cathryn Anderson seconded it. All aye.

FACILITY: Over all we need to watch what we are spending. No more new projects unless necessary. In the next few months, we will be finishing up the CT and paying for it. This will be a large decrease in our cash. We will also begin paying wages for two CT techs. This project will require a lot more money than we originally planned. We are checking with other agencies to see about extra grant money.

We have a recruiter looking for a physician, but no luck so far. Our new Nurse Practitioner is here and awaiting her Colorado license. We need to make a decision about how many providers to keep in the Clinic at all times. If we continue to use locums full time along with our mid-level, this will not help with our expenses. Our Chronic Care program at the clinic has helped keep the visit level up.

We need to look at new ideas for revenue that do not cost a lot. We are looking at a trauma designation for our ER. If we do this, we could increase our charges and be reimbursed accordingly. This will be something that we work on this year. We have added the MORE program at the clinic for dental exams. We would also like to see more well child visits. We would like to be involved in any decisions when the Public Health contract is up.

We need to look at all areas and see where we can cut some costs and make sure that each department is running efficiently and does not have any unnecessary expenses.

OTHER

TELEMETRY GRANT: Wendy called into the meeting to discuss applying for a grant for a new telemetry machine and a glide scope. Eunice has an EMS grant that we could use for this. Our current telemetry machine is on its last leg. There is no longer support or maintenance for this machine. We would like to try for a grant to help with this, so that when it does quit, we won’t have to pay the whole purchase price. The glide scope is something that would be beneficial to the ER. It helps intubate patients. Our flight crews currently do this when they arrive on scene. The telemetry machine is $80,000 and the glide scope is $20,000. If we apply for the financial waiver we would be responsible for 20 percent, otherwise we would be responsible for 50 percent. The grant is due February 13, so Wendy would like to know if she can proceed with the grant application. Discussion followed. We could look at other options for the 20 percent. Maybe some donations or other grants. Priscilla Waggoner made a motion to apply for the grant, with the stipulation that the 20 percent needs to come from another source besides the Hospital and Sylvia Shields seconded it. All aye.

GRANT WRITER: Craig Kerfoot suggested that maybe the Hospital, County, School and Town could get together and hire a grant writer that could help us all out. The Board thought this was a good idea. He will talk to the other entities and see what they think.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:26 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kiowa County Hospital District Board

Sylvia Shields, Secretary-Treasurer