Revenues Increase with Higher Outpatient Volumes at TCMH

Texas County Memorial Hospital revenues were above budgeted expectations by 8.6 percent, hospital board members heard at their monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Linda Pamperien, TCMH chief financial officer, presented the December financials, which reflected an increase of $687,758 in overall revenues from budgeted monthly expectations.

“Our outpatient revenue increased $646,288, an almost ten percent increase, and our inpatient volumes increased $55,168, a 4.2 percent increase from our budgeted monthly expectations,” Pamperien said.

According to Pamperien, the hospital had 92 admissions in December, up 50 admissions from the same time frame in 2023, with 941 admissions year-to-date.

The financial report reflected that the hospital’s earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDA) for the respective month were negative at $390,878, and the year-to-date EBIDA was positive at $1,683,289.

April Crites, TCMH quality and risk management, reviewed quarterly patient satisfaction scores with board members.

Crites expressed satisfaction with the hospital’s performance, noting, “We are pleased to see that patient satisfaction scores have increased nearly three percent across the hospital’s inpatient, emergency department, and outpatient ambulatory surgery services.”

She also shared the hospital’s quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) data for 2024. As part of their QAPI plans, the social services and case management teams began addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) in 2024.

She explained that the medical-surgical, intensive care, and obstetrics departments assess SDOH during patient interviews for inpatients aged 18 and over to improve patient care and outcomes. Currently, patients are evaluated in six key areas: access to food, housing, transportation, utilities, medications, and safety. This evaluation helps us understand the social situation patients will return to at home and whether it may adversely affect their health.

“As a result of our efforts in 2024 to ask SDOH-related questions, we identified needs in 40 inpatients from the medical-surgical, intensive care unit, and obstetrics departments,” Crites continued. “These patients were connected with appropriate community resources by our social worker and case manager, which we hope will lead to better patient outcomes.”

In other news, Mr. Bill Bridges. TCMH chief executive officer, announced to the board that the hospital had been awarded the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

“We are thankful to FEMA for this funding that will provide generators for our Medical Office Complex, Hutchinson Pharmacy, and Cabool Medical Clinic,” said Bridges. “These locations have been designated as disaster areas during tornadoes and other power outages. The generators will help prevent losses, particularly for medications.”

Bridges will attend the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Health Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., in February. The conference offers healthcare leaders the chance to meet with federal legislators. “I look forward to the conference as an opportunity to discuss our healthcare priorities and advocate for our community,” Bridges said.

Present at the meeting were Pamperien; Crites; Bridges; Courtney Owens, chief nursing officer; Helania Wulff, public relations and marketing director; Trica Benoist, MD, chief of staff; and board members Jim Perry, OD; Ross Richardson; Joleen Durham; and Jerri Crump. Jennifer Hugenot joined via teleconference.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the next meeting of the TCMH board of trustees is Wednesday, February 26, at 12 p.m. in the hospital board room.