CCH Administrator
Resigns
Published: Claiborne Independent
March
25, 2009
by W. Lee Brame
Claiborne County Hospital Administrator, Dan Colon, under increasing
pressure from the Board of Directors to improve hospital finances, resigned
his position on Monday, March 16. Personnel close to
Colon
indicated that he left the job for better opportunities elsewhere.
Colon
was initially considered for the post during a public workshop held on March
11, 2008 and his appointment confirmed during the March 2008 Hospital Board
meeting.
As reported earlier in this paper, Hospital Board members had become
increasingly concerned with the financial management of the hospital and had
set deadlines for corrective actions during the February 2009 Hospital Board
meeting. In particular, the number of days in the accounts receivables
column (the average length of time
for the hospital to get paid for services rendered) continued to grow.
During last month’s meeting, board members requested that Mercy Health
Partners provide the hospital with technical assistance in this area.
Colon’s
tenure at Claiborne County
Hospital covered an
interesting period that saw improvement and then degradation of the
hospital’s finances, the hiring and firing of a Chief Financial Officer, and
the opening of a new medical services building.
Significant improvements were made in many areas in reaching national
service performance standards but the financial challenges in operating a
rural public hospital in these economically turbulent times are daunting.
Further developments are expected during the March 2009 Hospital Board
meeting which is scheduled on Tuesday, March 24.
