Auditor praises the handling of hospital's finances

Nevada, Mo. -- The Nevada Regional Medical Center board of directors were congratulated by Tim Wolters, from the accounting firm of BKD, during his presentation of the yearly audit findings for their performance the past year. Wolters noted that the hospital's annual audit revealed no material weaknesses and only the issue of segregation of accounting duties was noted as a concern.

Wolters said the hospital's administrators were to be commended for their handling of the hospitals finances, especially their attempts to manage their accounts receivable in preparation for a change in financial software. He also said that the administrators had managed the expenses well during a downturn in receipts.

Pam Swegar provided the board with an update on the self-funded insurance plan the hospital put in place. Swegar said that the plan has saved the hospital approximately $600,000 and as an additional benefit 72 percent of the claims were paid to NRMC itself. The board voted to keep premiums for the base plan the same but increased the buy-up option by 6 percent.

"We need to adjust the premium to more accurately reflect the cost of the buy-up option," NRMC CEO Judy Feuquay said.

Quorum representative Bart Milstead presented the board the annual report and said that customer service was one of the areas where the hospital stands out and that the overall patient satisfaction score was 87.7, a high mark. New services such as the Wound Care Clinic, the Behavioral Health Unit and the 16-slice CT scanner all contributed to the high score and the success of the hospital.

Milstead said that Quorum was able to contribute by providing more than half a million dollars of services for only $307,120.

"The impact of our services, before our management fee is $573,674," Milstead said. After deducting our fee the direct net financial impact of our services is $266,554."

Feuquay told the board the IT upgrade was proceeding, the hardware vendor had been selected. Inteck was selected as consultants based on several factors including price, knowledge, ease of personal interaction and experience with the Meditech software. JJWild was selected as the company to do the hardware installation for the Meditech Information System because they offered a turn key solution and the best overall, complete bid.

"These partners were selected because we feel they will do the best job for the hospital," Feuquay said.

The board approved several capital items, a skid steer loader for $27,636, the Rehabilitation Department renovation for $80,127 and the repair of the warehouse roof for $100,000.

"The roof is in dire need for repair due to excessive leaking," Feuquay said. "It is not felt that this project can wait for the facility master planning."

The skid steer loader will be used for snow removal, parking lot upkeep and other maintenance projects which should lower the cost for outside contractors. The renovation of the Rehabilitation Department will include carpet, curtains, blinds, computers, ultrasound, treadmills, and other miscellaneous equipment.

The board then approved three contracts, Dr. Scott Compton's orthopedic community care clinic for $125,000; a contract for anesthesia consultant contract with Dr. Randy Booth for $786,000 that provides the hospital with anesthesia coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week and space rental for urologist Dr. Keith Abercrombie for $900.

The board also approved a contract for servicing and maintaining the Sterrad 100S Sterilization system, which provides sterilized interments for the operating rooms for $12,644.