Dr. John House gave a presentation to the Hospital Commission during the April 21 meeting with a focus on a partnership between him and the commission. The commission would still retain legal rights to run the hospital, keeping credentialed status with all current and future payers.
House mentioned that when Allegiance was running the hospital, they kept all the money and functionally rented the building and license to operate. He said that the commission would be “100 percent in charge as you are now.”
The exchange would be the commission pays $650,000 monthly to cover salaries, equipment, etc. He said that expense reports showed that the amount was slightly over average expenses for the hospital currently.
House said he would bring in his own management team and that as revenue increases, the cost to the commission would increase but that is to be expected as, presumably, more staff would be hired.
He clarified that the commission would be responsible for outside maintenance of the hospital, saying that they as the property owner would maintain that the building is “usable,” using a caved-in roof as an example of what would be the responsibility of the commission to fix. The exception would be any equipment that might fail, key to building use inside, that was operating beyond life expectancy would be the commission’s responsibility.
House gave projections that the hospital could be making $136,000 more than what they are paying him by the fourth quarter. He spent time addressing community outreach, explaining that he would have an easier time convincing local doctors to send orders to the hospital due to his good relationship with local clinics. He also said that he’d have an easier time convincing locals to go to the hospital than a new CEO would. He said he and staff would go to local groups and clinics to speak directly with the public and building trust in the community and “extended medical community.”
He explained that for him, this is about building the best hospital town could have and that money made at the hospital would be put back into it. He also gave commissioners a possibility of how the hospital would be used in the future, including having urgent care.
After the presentation, Chair Sandy Martin explained that if the commission chooses to have any kind of management company take over that it would take time for that to happen, citing that an RFP process would need to take place, negotiation over the proposal, and requirements of informing the state.
The hospital commission spent nearly half the meeting after the presentation in executive session, agreeing to negotiate with candidate finalists for the CEO position.
The business of business
Martin gave a report for interim CEO Jodi Edmondson, saying that a meeting with Telehealth and UAMS representatives went well. Rural Health Redesign Center also is working on a report on financials and opportunities for growth in the hospital with a presentation in May.
The financial report showed $6 million in the bank with ER revenue down. Oracle (medical records system) training is also completed, and the admin team is reviewing options for cost saving. It was mentioned that there was a $285,000 in services including required IT services to upgrade.
Martin said that the hospital is aware of low revenue but that will be addressed as the commission takes a look at the budget. Director of Nursing and Clinical Services Lana Mills took time to clarify ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction and Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction guidelines given by the state on how care should be performed. This was in response to an aldermen’s comment made during the city council and Hospital joint workshop suggesting that the hospital had not performed care correctly for a patient.
During public comments, Heather Wilson said that the commission’s actions do not reflect “principles over personalities.” Wilson said that management contracts contradict by-laws, and that budgets were not readily available for the public to review. She said that principles are “not attempting to block legal FOIA requests to the Municipal League. Principles aren’t blaming the press for doing their job.” She said she’s read documents that the commission has said shows the other side and that pages show “years of long failure and toxicity.”
I don’t believe the Wilson woman meant “principles” but “principals”, an entirely different word. And, as a member of the CAPC, shouldn’t her comments be a conflict of interest. But maybe she can’t help herself….