At the March 26 Greenwood County Hospital (GWCH) board of trustees meeting, Pharmacist Isaac Boone gave an educational presentation about the 340B discount drug program and Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform. The 340B Drug Discount Program, a federal initiative, allows certain hospitals and healthcare organizations to purchase outpatient drugs at discounted prices, enabling them to stretch limited resources and serve more patients, particularly those who are low-income or uninsured. A PBM is a third-party administrator in healthcare that acts as an intermediary between insurance plans, pharmacies, and drug manufacturers to manage prescription drug benefits. PBM reform in Kansas, primarily enacted through the bipartisan Senate Bill 360 (Kansas Consumer Prescription Protection and Accountability Act) in March 2026, regulates PBMs to lower drug costs and increase transparency.
Boone described how 340B functions, spoke about specific patient eligibility, and explained that eligibility can change depending on whether the patient is considered inpatient, outpatient, or a referral patient. Boone also described the situation currently happening in the Kansas House of Representatives with regard to 340B. Recently, pharmaceutical companies have been attempting to limit hospitals to one contract pharmacy. Boone explained that this has a direct effect on patients of Howard Clinic, a part of the GWCH system. With the one-contract pharmacy limitation, Batson’s Pharmacy in Howard can’t access 340B discounts; thus, patients must travel to Eureka Pharmacy to receive the discounts.
Boone encouraged members of the board to continue to educate themselves regarding 340B and the situation the program faces currently. He stressed the benefits to the community and urged the board to spread the word to those community members who are prescribed specialty medications, saying 99% of the time he is able to help lessen that expense. Lastly, Boone impressed upon board members his feeling that change is needed at the state level and urged them to reach out to their congresspersons to show support for this beneficial program.
CEO Report
In her CEO report, Sandra Dickerson informed the board that the hospital has had to push back the start date for service with the new mammography unit. She explained that GWCH is waiting on previous scans, which were done in the mobile mammography unit, to be delivered so that they can be used for comparison to new scans. Dickerson said the first patients are scheduled to be seen on April 8. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for April 6; however, due to limited space, the ceremony was relatively small.
Dickerson also shared that GWCH still has not yet received approval from CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) regarding the provider tax assessment program, a state-level process that taxes healthcare providers to generate revenue, which is then used to draw down federal Medicaid matching funds. “Kansas Hospital Association (KHA) will reach out to our congressional delegation next week to request a status update from CMS,” said Dickerson. If the approval does not arrive before the tax comes due, participating hospitals such as GWCH will have to decide whether to withdraw the preprint application and not participate in the provider tax program as a paying entity. KHA will continue to provide updates on the progress of the 2026 preprint approval.
Dickerson told the board that GWCH has entered into some memoranda of understanding agreements with several other hospitals to work collectively with them. These hospitals are serving as regional hubs for this project and have been designated under the rural health transformation program as an “anchor hospital.” “Within these agreements,” explained Dickerson, “we are looking to share resources to keep care close to home for our patients and reduce some costs associated with administrative functions.” These agreements might include things like sharing specialty providers either in person or via telemedicine, hospital/department policies, possible regional transportation hubs in case of problems transporting patients to another inpatient setting, patient appointment transportation, and anything else that can be done in the realm of shared resources. Dickerson said she is hopeful that since both cohorts GWCH has joined are among the five to 10, there will be funding tied to those hubs’ activities. As a hospital, GWCH is able to participate in more than one cohort. “We are situated strategically to be able to work with several hospitals in various directions, and if an opportunity for us to join a cohort to the west comes up, we will likely join that one as well,” she said.
GWCH has signed up for three different trainings through KHA. The training targets patient satisfaction, corporate compliance, and revenue cycle. “As we work through these training sessions, we are hoping to increase our knowledge and improve our performance in these areas,” Dickerson said.
Dickerson informed the board that GWCH has been scheduled for a site review through CIHQ, the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved organization that accredits hospitals and healthcare entities to ensure safety, quality care, and regulatory compliance. She explained that the unannounced visit will happen within the next four months.
Dickerson reported that the hospital’s cost report has been finalized and will result in a payback from Medicare totaling of $213,481, which is expected sometime in May.
Financials
Chief Financial Officer Butch Forrest presented a financial report for December 2025 and January 2026. Forrest presented a balance sheet for each of the two months, highlighting assets, liabilities, and fund balances. According to the report, December total patient care revenue was $2,180,776, total operating revenue was $1,485,184, and net income (loss) was $258,420. In January 2026, total patient care revenue was $2,089,232, total operating revenue was $1,449,496, and net income (loss) was $44,532. The board approved the financials as presented.
Quality
Quality/Risk Manager Melissa Jones presented her quality report for February. Jones reviewed GWCH’s satisfaction survey, which asks patients to give an overall rating of the hospital as well as rate specific areas of care such as medication, doctors and nurses, care coordination, and meals. Completion of the survey helps ensure GWCH’s ability to move toward providing the best care possible to the community. Jones presented a quality scorecard, which translates clinical data into actionable metrics to evaluate safety and efficiency. The scorecard defines initiatives such as patient safety, clinical quality, and improved patient registration and wait times. The data shows GWCH’s goals or initiatives and measures current status against standard reference points (benchmarks) to highlight opportunities for improvement and emphasize successes. Jones noted a specific goal of improving stroke measures to ensure that a CT scan is performed within 25 minutes of a stroke patient’s arrival at the hospital.
The board also reviewed a utilization report that reflects patient days at the hospital and length of stay, as well as outpatient services in specific departments and clinics related to GWCH. A departmental quality report was also presented, which highlights goals by department. Jones noted the emergency department is working toward trauma designation, and the admissions are working toward greater efficiency with regard to patient registration and insurance submission.
Med Staff
Medical staff met Tuesday, March 17. Student pharmacist Cameron Clausing, who has recently joined Eureka Pharmacy in his final rotation of pharmacy school, joined Pharmacist Boone in a presentation on medications. The medical staff also heard routine reports on tissue, transfusion, and mortality.
The staff approved the appointments of Kelly Odell, APRN, Allied Health; Nikhil Madhuripan, MD, Teleradiology Consulting; and the reappointment of Starla Segovia, MD, Teleradiology Consulting. The GWCH board of trustees also approved these appointments and reappointments.
In old business, the board reviewed an addendum to the minutes of the June 26, 2025, meeting. In that meeting, the GWCH board of trustees was presented with a “proposed” budget for 2026. However, in the meeting minutes, the budget was recorded as “preliminary.” The addendum changes this budget from preliminary to approved. The board approved the change to the minutes of the June 26, 2025 meeting. The consent agenda, including the minutes of the February 26 regular meeting; February treasurer’s report; and disbursements for February 2026, including payroll/ benefits in the amount of $807,155.12 and accounts payable in the amount of $459,885.44, was approved as presented.
The next GWCH board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 23.
