Andrew Bair, chief executive officer of the Ellsworth County Medical Center, discussed the need for a strategic planning session at the March 17 meeting of the hospital’s board of directors.
“One of the challenges we have is we’re heading into a budget season without having a guiding strategic plan really,” he said. “I am looking for some time over the next 50 days to gain a day and a half of your time to join with the executive team and some of our physician leadership to guide us through a couple of exercises.”
Bair said the strategic planning session will include a review of the hospital’s mission, vision and values, an environmental analysis that outlines the national and state healthcare-related political policy changes, a look at the most recent community health needs assessment, a financial forecast and capital needs.
“Only after consideration of these critical elements can we form a plan,” Bair said.
Bair said the strategic planning session ideally precedes the annual budget session, which is necessary because of the hospital’s fiscal cycle.
“The current challenge is that though the pandemic is on the decline, the fallout from the last year creates an ambiguous landscape,” he said. “This may make it even more critical to develop a plan.”
Bair said under normal circumstances, a strategic plan wears well for about three years with annual alterations in the off years. Then the cycle is repeated.
“During the past 12 months, it was difficult to know what the next day would bring, let alone plan out the next three years,” he said. “We have yet to return to a typical pre-COVID environment. However, I recommend we consider going through the process and evaluate monthly after that, with a more in-depth analysis quarterly for adjustments.”
These re-evaluations would occur at regularly scheduled board meetings.
Bair said he will look into conducting the strategic planning session sometime in April.
In other business:
• Bair said ECMC continues to work closely with the Ellsworth County Health Department on COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
He said vaccinations are beginning for people in Phases 3 and 4 (people age 16-65 with or without health problems).
“They (the health department) do all the tracking and they receive the vaccines,” Bair said. “But they don’t have the manpower, and we’re offering that.”
Bair said he tracks manpower usage and that should be part of the allowable costs for funding from the Department of Health and Human Services. The funding expires June 30.
“We also believe that date will probably be pushed back,” he added. “We don’t know that. There has not been any official word. But that is the way things appear to be going.”
Bair said the county health department is doing the best they can to distribute the vaccines. He noted, however, that if at some point in the future, vaccinations in the county are not completed or are still happening at a very high rate, ECMC may have to step up and help the health department.
“That would be something we’re not getting reimbursed for, and we would be applying some HR (human resources) hours, some expensive labor, towards that,” he said. “But we’re not there yet — and I don’t think we’re going to get there.”
Bair said Kerianne Ehrlich, supervisor of the county health department, was confident that as county continued to receive vaccines at the rate it has been getting them, it should be able to take care of those wishing to be vaccinated.
• Bair said the “rolling quarantine” which took place with the hospital staff has started to resolve.
“We’ve had an occasional person that’s got to be on a modified quarantine,” he said. “That means they work alone in their office with a mask on.”
Bair said one employee has had to work from home.
“So from an employee standpoint, we’re not as taxed as we were,” he said. “Remember a couple of months ago, we had lots of COVID patients here. Now we rarely have any that come through the ER (emergency room). We’re not testing near the level we were. Positives are more rare. On an in-patient and ER volume, we’re looking a little bit more regular.”
As Bair put it, “we think we’ve weathered the storm.”
He said the hospital staff are tired and the administrative team is doing its best to prop them up and keep them going.
• Bair said ECMC had an average turnover rate during the last 12 months of 16.2 percent. It peaked in February at 22.9 percent. The average turnover rate for the state of Kansas is 16.5 percent. Bair said the hospital’s goal is 15 percent or lower. He noted certified nursing assistants are seeing the highest turnover rate, followed by staff (hospital) nurses.
• Bair said Amy Ranker is the hospital’s new director of nursing.
“Amy has some very natural leadership abilities,” he said. “She’s willing to do the tough things and have the tough conversations, but she does it in a way that doesn’t leave people feeling humiliated. She is a good leader.”
Bair said she has done some things to save staff who were leaving.
“She has actually had to do some counseling with people who weren’t up to snuff,” Bair said.
• Steve Burkhouse, director of business operations, said ECMC has $1 million more in cash reserves now than it did a year ago.
“That’s a good thing,” he said.
The hospital had a gross revenue from operations for February of $1,993,984, compared to budgeted gross revenues of $1,995,129,
Net revenue from operations for February was $1,390,712 greater than the budgeted amount of $1,511,210.
The hospital’s 340B discount drug program recorded a gain in February of $24,805, which is lower than what was anticipated for the month.
• Bair discussed several capital items he would like to see the board consider for approval.
The first was an additional expense to the already approved expenditure to refurbish and update the ECMC parking lot. Bair asked the board if he could investigate the cost of reconstructing the area where ambulances deliver patients to the hospital.
“We’re going to have to fix it at some point in time,” he said.
The second was a conversion of the hospital conference room into office space for Tina Davis, director of population health, Danette Heinze, director of operations, and Kayla Timms, executive administrative assistant. The cost of that conversion would be $6,528.
Third would be the replacement of windows at ECMC.
Fourth, which was approved by the board, is construction of a mental health office in the Rural Health Clinic as well as a private triage room. The office would cost $3,827 and the triage area would cost $2,242. Funds would come from the $3 million ECMC received from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Fifth, was an enclosed walkway from the hospital to the MRI trailer.
Sixth, which was approved by the board, is replacement of a door in the hospital. The new door is automated. The work will be done by Quality Glass of Great Bend at a cost of $9,124 and paid for by funds received from the county.
Seventh and eighth are a new CT scanner and new mattresses for the hospital.
• No action was taken after a 10 minute executive session to discuss information relating to hospital security.