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| 7/29/2010 5:11:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Steve Long was installed this week as the newest member of the Humboldt County Memorial Hospital's Board of Trustees. |
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| During the newest hospital construction at Humboldt County Memorial Hospital, a robin decided to build a nest in an open window frame. When it came time to place the glass in the window, the compassionate maintenance men relocated the nest atop a ladder outside the main entrance. The robbins stayed in the nest atop the ladder for nearly three weeks, but have now moved on. |
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HCMH ends year on a positive financial note
Long joins board
By Kent Thompson
The financial health of Humboldt County Municipal Hospital (HCMH) was able to weather the storm, so to speak, for a positive end of the year balance.
According to preliminary and pre-audit accounting figures, the hospital showed net income for fiscal year 2009-10, that ended June 30, of $568,705. That was about $18,000 above budgeted amounts and about $189,000 below the ending totals for last year.
HCMH Chief Operating Officer Rob Colerick cautioned the board that the end of the year financials are always tenuous until final government payments are settled and a final audit of the books are performed.
"We may have overpaid Medicare and may be getting around $100,000 reimbursement back, but we don't know that yet," Colerick said.
All-in-all, it was a pretty good year considering an extremely slow mid-winter period.
The hospital's cash on hand rose to slightly more than $2 million, compared to $1.36 million last year. The long-term debt of the hospital decreased slightly, from $3.19 million last year to $2.95 million at the end of last month.
Total assets owned by HCMH increased by about $1.5 million, to $20.4 million.
"Our investment and cash positions are up and in the last five years, the hospital has been able to take on $13.4 million in capital projects with no additional debt," Colerick told the board, all of which was encouraging news.
He said expenses were down slightly and total net revenue was down by about 1.1 percent.
"We made up a lot of volume during the last quarter which helped (our bottom line)," Colerick told the board.
For the month of June, HCMH reported $1,036,280 in operating revenue and $1,021,102 in total expenses, for a net revenue from operations of $15,177. When non-operating revenues and county tax dollars were included, the hospital's net revenue for the month was $46,289.
Board President Tim Anderson introduced and installed new board member Steve Long. Steve is a Humboldt resident and is the general manager of Humboldt County REC. He is filling the unexpired position of Gary Moritz, who recently resigned from the board to take a position with HCMH.
Pam Ray, director of quality and compliance, presented the board with figures on cardiac performance measures. She explained that cardiac response times for the administration of EKGs and for the diagnosis, stabilization and transfer of patients to the cardiac care unit at Trinity Regional Medical Center ranks among the best in the state, among the top 94 percent.
The average time an EKG is administered after a patient arrives in the emergency room is 2.6 minutes. The average time a patient is transferred to the cardiac care center in Fort Dodge is 35.5 minutes, Ray told the board.
"In cases of cardiac arrest, time is muscle," Trinity CEO Sue Thompson told the board. She said the goal of affiliate hospitals is to have patients at the lab in Fort Dodge within 90 minutes of the time they reach the emergency room at the local hospital.
Colerick said it helps that Humboldt is only 20 minutes from Trinity, but also added the HCMH ER physicians and staff are dedicated to getting patients diagnosed, stabilized and, depending on the diagnosis, transferred in an expeditious manner.
Ray will be retiring her position this week, after 25 years with the hospital. The board thanked her for her years of service and wished her well in retirement.
Mary Moritz updated the board on bids received for carpet tile for the hallway to the laboratory, the hallway to rehabilitation services and the hallway and the five offices within the out-patient clinic.
The bids were received from Jim's Carpet One in Fort Dodge and Hjelmeland Flooring and More Than Floors in Humboldt.
While Jim's had the low bid, the bids were competitive enough that Board member Jody Eppley asked if the local stores could be contacted again to see if they would adjust their bids.
"I think we should keep it local if it's within a few thousand dollars," Eppley said.
After some discussion, Board member Dave Boswell put Eppley's wishes into a motion that the board approved.
Regarding construction, Colerick updated the board on the front lobby remodeling. He said the new auxiliary snack bar area has been roughed in and interior finish work will soon commence. He also updated the board on issues with the HVAC system installed last year. He said some issues have been corrected with a few other issues still needing to be rectified with the contractor.
The board heard from Director of Community Relations Gary Moritz on a recent conference he attended in Madison, WI, regarding charitable giving and philanthropy.
Moritz said that 83 percent of charitable giving for health care comes from individuals.
He said that HCMH already has models in place to support charitable giving in a variety of ways. Moritz said he will be working with the boards of the HCMH Foundation and the Board of Trustees to update the hospital's strategic plan in regard to philanthropy.
The board also approved medical staff privileges for Dr. Sherry Bulten, Dr. Laine Dvorak, and Dr. Mark Hartman.
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