Hospital board reports that changes mean Barone Alzheimer's Care Center is now operating in the black

Thursday, February 24, 2005

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

It was good news for the Barone Alzheimer's Care Center and the Moore-Few Care Center Tuesday night at the Nevada Regional Medical Center Board of Directors meeting. Denise Sloniker, Moore-Few administrator, told the board that the patient census at Barone remained constant at 38, full capacity.

The full beds contributed to a strengthening of the financial picture at Barone.

In the past the administrators have dealt with a combination of factors that kept Barone from getting into the black. Staffing levels, limited bed space and low Medicaid reimbursement all contributed to Barone's financial woes. In response the board increased the number of beds and the facility is now showing a profit.

Hospital CEO Judith Feuquay told the board the hospital had to divert patients to other facilities for a short time the night of Feb. 16.

"Divert is a word that hospital administrators don't like to ever come out of their mouths," Feuquay said. "We had to divert patients the night of Feb. 16 for about 12 hours. A lot of hospitals are in the same situation. There are a lot of upper respiratory and other problems at this time that contribute to the situation."

Fuequay also announced that since the Magnetic Resonance Imaging equipment had been installed, twice as many patients were being scheduled as were used in calculating whether the unit would be cost effective.

"Since the MRI has been open we have been scheduling about eight patients a day," Feuquay said. "We did the performa on four patients a day. I admit we did have some that were held off until we got the equipment installed but this is still a good indication that you made a very wise decision to purchase the equipment."

The hospital increased the bond days on hand, an indicator of the hospitals financial condition, to 75. The hospital had previously struggled to get the number up to 70 days, a figure that the hospital's contract with the financial institutions backing the bonds used to finance the construction of the north tower.

Feuquay announced that the hospital is changing the way employee time off is being handled.

"We're changing from a vacation, holiday, sick day type of system to a PTO, Paid Time Off system," Feuquay said. "It's easier to maintain and has benefits for both the hospital and the employees."

The condition of the floors was once more the topic of discussion during the board meeting. Areas of tile flooring have come loose from the floor and bubbled up. Feuquay told the board the hold up is with the company that installed the flooring.

"We have turned over all we were requested to," Feuquay said. "The company that installed the flooring is keeping this from going forward."

The board voted to apply for a grant from the Missouri Elderly and Handicapped Transportation Assistance Program. Board Vice-Chairman Janet Wray said the amount is small but worthwhile to pursue.

"The grant only gets us about $200 a month," Wray said. "Still, $200 a month is $200 a month."

Holly Bush, NRMC Quality Assurance, Performance Improvement director, told the board the hospital staff administered approximately 14,000 doses of medicines in December and had a very low error rate, 0.6 percent.

In other business the board:

* Approved a contract for the Sheldon rural clinic.

* Approved a contract with Dooley Roofing for roofs on the Medical Arts Building, Lab and old ICU and the Barone Alzheimer's Care Center.

* Appointed a committee to look into changes in the board of directors by-laws.

* Passed out conflict of interest statements for the board members to fill out, sign and return.

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