Andrew Bair, chief executive officer at Ellsworth County Medical Center, received his set of goals and plans for 2020-21 during a special meeting of the hospital board of directors Oct. 7 in the hospital conference room.

Bair asked board members to pare the goals down to a list that is manageable and easy to measure. He also recommended the goals be weighted and taken into consideration when the board considers his potential 10 percent bonus at the end of the year.

One of the main items at the top of the list is the 340B discoun prescription drug program and ending the hospital’s reliance on it for revenue.

The 340B program allows critical access hospitals such as ECMC to acquire prescription drugs at a lower price. That lower price is then passed on to patients. However, since its inception, the program has become a way of providing revenue to local pharmacists and ECMC.

“If we can pull more revenue with less expense it is going to put less strain on the 340B program,” Bair said.

“It’s far better to find other revenue sources,” said board member Karen Pauley.

Raising the customer satisfaction scores in the emergency room was listed along with combining outpatient clinic services, including wound care, pain services, etc., and grow them by 3 percent.

“I think that’s achievable,” Bair said.

The goal of growing volumes in outpatient services such as laboratory, X-ray, respiratory therapy and rehabilitation was added to the list, as well as growing volume in the Rural Health Clinic.

Bair said he would like to shoot for a 10 point increase in employee engagement scores. This measures how satisfied employees are in working at the hospital. Currently, that score is 68.7 out of 100 points.

“I think we can do it,” Bair said. “We want this place to be a great place to work.”

Bair said he and his team are also going to work on getting the Rural Health Clinic in the top quartile of patient satisfaction. Bair said the RHC currently floats somewhere between the median and top quartiles.

“We have to be better than what is down the street,” Bair said. “The goal is to provide higher quality.”

Bair said provider compensation is a work in progress, with the goal of providing compensation in an equable manner.

Bair said he would work with Steve Burkhouse, the hospital’s director of fiscal operations, and the rest of the executive team to put some numbers to the goals and present them at the next board meeting which is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the hospital conference room.