Greenwood County Hospital (GWCH) CEO Sandra Dickerson presented her report to the board of trustees on Thursday, May 22, at the GWCH Board of Trustees meeting. In the report, Dickerson reminded the board that the golive date for the hospital’s new Cerner/Oracle Electronic Health Record system is fast approaching. The system is set to launch on June 2. Cerner/Oracle is a cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) software solution used to streamline administrative processes and improve patient care. Dickerson advised the board that there might be a slight delay in billing while the transition is taking place but that measures have been taken to help support business operations during that time.
APRN Carey Hurt has agreed to become the wound care provider for GWCH instead of working in the clinic as a PCP (Primary Care Provider). She will begin on June 16 and will initially work with APRN Kayla McCoy as she familiarizes herself with the patients and with the advanced wound care products being used at GWCH.
Dickerson reported that The Patterson Family Foundation did invite GWCH to submit a grant application for the proposed new mammography machine, and Dickerson has sent that grant in. “We will know in August if they intend to fund our project, and if they fund it, at what amount,” she said. The grant application was for $335,000. The Patterson Family Foundation, based in Kansas City, Mo., is a family-led foundation that extends the legacy of Neal and Jeanne Patterson.
Dickerson said that she had hoped to also apply for a grant from The Patterson Foundation for a grant toward child care facilities for GWCH, but Patterson only allows one grant proposal per grant cycle. Dickerson said that she is looking into other possibilities for this project. She explained that the scope of the child care grant would involve either building a child care facility or renovating some space to provide a licensed daycare facility, which would directly benefit employees at GWCH but could also accommodate families outside of the hospital as well.
In new business, a resolution was presented to support re-designation of GWCH’s Level IV trauma program. A Level IV trauma center provides initial care, stabilization, and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) before transferring patients to a higher-level trauma center. The designation is meant to ensure that those healthcare professionals caring for the patients are educationally and clinically prepared. Continued participation in this Kansas statewide trauma system will result in an organized and timely response to patient needs and improved patient care. The board voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
The board heard a finance report from CFO Melody Curnutt, who highlighted an increase in contractual services during the month of April, as well as an increase in Pain Clinic income and Pain Clinic providers. She went on to say that the hospital also saw an increase in net cash for April of $181,000. Much of this, Curnutt explained, was driven by the additional pharmacy payment from newly acquired Batson’s Pharmacy in Howard and also interest income from CD renewals.
GWCH medical staff met on May 20 and heard a presentation from Dr. Mike McClintick. During new business, several routine reports were heard, and Pharmacist Isaac Boone presented a formulary change to some medications. Formulary changes in pharmacy refer to updates to the list of covered prescription drugs within a health insurance plan.
The Board of Trustees reviewed and approved appointments as follows: Carey Hurt, APRN, Allied Health; Kermit Rust, MD, Radiology Consulting; Lisa May, MD, Radiology Consulting; Kolli Lohitha, MD, Radiology Consulting; Patrick McEnulty, MD, Radiology Consulting; Kyoungok (Gale) Crouch, APRN, Allied Health; Christopher Baalmann, MD, Radiology Consulting; Kelsey Bourm, MD, Radiology Consulting; Timothy Gronlie, MD, Radiology Consulting; Shuo Li, MD, Radiology Consulting; Nathan Dobbs, MD, Radiology Consulting; Vincent Paul, MD, Radiology Consulting; Ernest Ostermann, MD, Radiology Consulting; Tyler Ternes, MD, Radiology Consulting; Adam Zarchan, MD, Radiology Consulting; Andrew Topham, MD, Radiology Consulting; Charles Mc-Guire, MD, Radiology Consulting.
Reappointments were approved as follows: Andrey Yusupov, MD, Radiology Consulting; Abdullahi Jama, MD, Radiology Consulting; Gulam Ashfaq Khan, MD, Radiology Consulting; Matthew Benedict, MD, Radiology Consulting; Robert Farrell, Jr., MD, Radiology Consulting; Shannon Bownds, MD, Radiology Consulting.
Dickerson explained that there are so many names on the appointments list due to GWCH, as of June 1, moving from Kansas Imaging Consultants (KIC) to Wichita Radiology Group (WRG). These names reflect the consulting radiologists with WRG. Names on the reappointment list are consultants with KIC whose appointments would expire before June 1 who will need to be re-credentialed so that they may continue to read for GWCH. The reason for the switch is due to issues of quality and speed, said Dickerson.
Two short executive sessions were held at the end of the trustee’s board meeting to discuss employee performance of non-elected personnel. No action was taken as a result of either session.
The next meeting of the GWCH Board of Trustees is set for June 26, at 5:30 p.m.
