Cheryl Branum is June Employee of the Month
July 13, 2018
TCMH Healthcare Foundation Awards Scholarships to Area Students
August 3, 2018
The summer months tend to be slower revenue generating months for many hospitals, but this has not been the case for Texas County Memorial Hospital. TCMH just closed their second consecutive month of positive financials.
The month of June was a success for the hospital due to many factors including great Length of Stay (LOS) numbers on the inpatient side.
LOS is a term used in healthcare to measure the number of days that patients are in the hospital during a single hospitalization period. Hospitals are reimbursed a set amount regardless of how many days each patient is in the hospital. The rates are determined by the Prospective Payment System (PPS) and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS).
The lower LOS numbers can be attributed to good patient care management from our providers. At TCMH our providers understand that sometimes in order for our patients to get well and back on their feet, a hospitalization may be necessary. However, their goal is to make sure that any time spent in the hospital is justified and that discharges happen as soon as our patients are ready.
Omanez Fockler, board of trustees’ member mentioned how fortunate TCMH is to have such a great group of providers taking care of our patients.
“The board of trustees need to show appreciation to our providers. It is because of their teamwork that our LOS has been so much better,” Fockler said.
Linda Pamperien, chief financial officer at TCMH, presented the financial report for the month of June.
“Outpatient revenue was significantly higher than anticipated for the month of June,” Pamerien said. “The emergency department, ambulance, radiology, and surgery were all busier than expected.”
“Overall revenues were up $202,664 from our budgeted expectations in June,” Pamperien said. “Inpatient volumes were down $186,190, but outpatient revenue was up $359,957.”
TCMH ended the month of June with a positive bottom line of $93,933 and a reduced year-to-date loss of $478,968.
Wes Murray, TCMH chief executive officer updated the board of trustees on the status of CPSI, the new electronic medical record for the clinics. Currently, the hospital utilizes CPSI on the inpatient side, but moving the clinics to CPSI will allow patient’s electronic medical records to all be in one location.
“Our providers will no longer have to switch back and forth between programs to review their patient’s chart, it will all be in one place,” Murray said. “The electronic medical record upgrade takes both time and money, but the positive results in the end will be worth it.”
Pamperien explained that the providers are already familiar with CPSI because of their work in the hospital, mentioning that it will make the patient’s charts more complete and easier to navigate.
Murray explained that the go-live for CPSI will begin in October for the Medical Office Complex providers in Houston as well as the TCMH Cabool Medical Clinic for Dr. Hawkins and Terry Bruno, FNP. In November, the rest of the clinics in Houston, Licking, and Mountain Grove will move to the new electronic medical record.
“We are blessed to have a thriving hospital in Houston that is continuously taking steps to improve patient care for the communities that we serve,” Murray said. “I appreciate the willingness of our medical staff and board of trustees to get behind our administrative team and continuously support our suggestions that we bring forward to keep our hospital growing in the right direction.”
Amanda Turpin, quality director shared the quarterly quality report with the board of trustees.
“I am happy to report that every department is in compliance and up to date,” Turpin said. “We have departments with quality goals who you might not think of when it comes to patient care, such as our informatics department, but they too have set goals and are meeting them.”
Turpin reported that the hospital laboratory in conjunction with the obstetrics department have been working together to improve phenylketonuria (PKU) screenings. The departments are collaborating in order to improve the accuracy and timeliness of getting the tests submitted to the state of Missouri.
The hospital just recently made a change on the property insurance that went into effect on July 21, 2018. Pamperien explained that the hospital has had the same insurance policy carrier for nearly thirty years and it was time to look at another proposal.
“The savings to the hospital will be nearly $96,000 over the next year,” Pamperien said. “ProCon is the new carrier that we decided to go with. They have a pool of hospitals that they work with and TCMH will now be a part of, and it just made sense for us.”
Present at the meeting were Murray; Pamperien; Doretta Todd-Willis; Jonathan Beers, DO, chief of staff; Rachel Davis, director of public relations; Turpin; board members, Jim Perry, OD; Fockler; Janet Wiseman; Jay Loveland and Mark Hampton.
William Mahoney, CoxHealth Representative, was not present for the meeting.
The next meeting of the TCMH board of trustees is Tuesday, August 28 at 12 p.m. in the hospital board room.