At the Oct. 20 meeting of the hospital board of directors, Shamarie Farthing, executive director of quality, said ECMC earned an incentive of 29 percent on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas hospital patients through the quality reporting period of Jan. 1 through June 30.

That 29 percent incentive meant that ECMC received $195,896.87 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas.

“It really does add up,” Farthing said. In other business: • Tina Davis, executive director of clinic operations, said Dr. Easton Casey, the hospital’s new provider, started seeing patients Oct. 1.

“She’s doing a very through job,” Davis said. “There’s a popularity with her and it’s exciting to see it grow.”

Davis also noted Casey is doing a lot of well woman visits.

• Davis said ECMC has established a partnership with Kansas Pediatrics. They employ 30 medical doctors that offer 12 speciality services, including pediatric inpatient and urgent care services, pediatric allergy and asthma care and pediatric endocrinology.

She said Kansas Pediatrics offers emergency room, inpatient and outpatient support for pediatric patients. In addition, these providers are available 24/7 through Telemedicine services both in the emergency room and clinic settings to give immediate support and advice to the ECMC medical group. This allows patients to be cared for locally.

• Jim Kirkbride, chief executive officer, said as of Oct. 20 the hospital had six inpatients, with one COVID-19 positive.

He said several COVID-19 tests were performed by the hospital’s mobile medical unit and quite a few patients have visited the Rural Health Clinic.

“There are 21 positive cases in the county, reported to us by Kerianne (Ehrlich) at the (Ellsworth County) Health Department,” Kirkbride said. “I’d like to say at this meeting how blessed we are to have such a great relationship with our county health department.”

Kirkbride said it is good for the hospital that Ehrlich was invited to participate in the hospital’s incident command.

“She gives us that county data, that state data,” he said. “So we get really good information for our dashboard because she’s involved.”

• Kirkbride told the board he has introduced a “project approval form” to the hospital’s management team. The purpose of the form is to make sure everyone at the hospital is aware of impending projects to ensure:

• The lowest quotes and prices are secured from materials management.

• Any technology requirements that may be needed from information technology.

• The financial obligations or funding options available for the project.

• Installation or construction needs from facilities management.

• That quality assurance and safety precautions are in place.

“This form is intended to ensure full communication throughout multiple departments within the facility for smoother project executions,” Kirkbride added.

Kirkbride said he wants to use only county funds for capital improvement projects — not operations.

Board member Karen Pauley said in the past, similar forms used by the hospital had three signatures required to sign off on the project before it was submitted to the board for consideration — the department director submitting the project, the chief financial officer and the chief executive officer.

“For me that was helpful,” she said. Kirkbride said he wants ECMC to be accountable for the county dollars it receives.

After a discussion on developing a contingency plan for the use of county funds, board members felt comfortable with basing the contingency amount on what has been received from the county in the last 18 months for planning purposes. The base for the contingency amount was set at 20 percent of the available funds received from the county, with a do-no-go-below amount of 10 percent of the available funds.

• Kirkbride said the hospital had a good month financially. It was $105,000 over budget on revenue, and $132,000 over budget year-to-date. The hospital has a positive operational margin of $95,000.

He said Steve Berkhouse, the executive director of finance, ended his employment earlier in October to work for a bigger hospital closer to his home and family in Indiana. The hospital is actively recruiting for a new executive director of finance.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth County Medical Center board of directors will be at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, in the hospital’s administration building conference room.

Ellsworth County Medical Center has reason to celebrate.