Hospital Board Meets
 

Claiborne Progress

November 28, 2007

By W. Lee Brame

Correspondent

With a full agenda on their plate (due to the cancellation of October's board meeting), Mayor Joe Tyler Duncan called to order the meeting of the Claiborne County Hospital Board of Directors at 6 p.m. After approving the minutes from the September meeting, and hearing a subcommittee recommendation to approve the Quality Management Report, the hospital's new financial manager reported on the financial health of the hospital.

Two months worth of data was presented and the bottom line towed that the hospital lost money during the previous months. The number of patients admitted to the hospital was lower than expected and the number of days each patient spent in the hospital was also lower than average. Positive figures for Nursing Home, Home Health and the Emergency Room operations were not sufficient to offset the losses at the hospital. Review of the year's figures.

The financial report led to a discussion of a registration bottleneck Duncan noted that each time be had come into the hospital, that hospital registration asked the same set of questions about his insurance, next of kin, address and other administrative details. Duncan asked if there isn't some way to speed this part of the admission process by pulling the relevant data from the computer files. Board members agreed that this should be investigated and that the hospital should find a way to make check-ins easier and more efficient. County Attorney James Estep III and hospital administrative officers indicated that some of this may not be possible because of the federal patient privacy act, but that this is a project that the hospital should pursue during the winter months.

Moving back to the financial report the board voted unanimously to approve the report. The board also discussed a draft capital equipment requirements report. Although several items will require further investigation and cost analysis, the board did vote to approve the expenditure of funds to replace one section of roof on the old building. Repairs may begin (weather permitting) before the end of the current calendar year.

The board also discussed and approved a bank resolution that would permit Claiborne County Hospital to move funds electronically (on-line) between hospital accounts with direct board approval for each transfer. This resolution was not intended to allow the hospital administration to spend non-budgeted funds without board approval.

The board also reviewed and approved renewal of the Emergency Room Services contract and the Anesthesia Services contract as well as a physician recruitment proposal. For hospital employees, the board also approved payment of Christmas bonuses at the same level as the previous year.

As a final note, board members also will start a periodic review of the Hospital Bylaws.

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