Nation-wide scandals force hospital board to discuss audit changes

An obscure bill regulating corporate finance was the subject of an educational insert in the Nevada Regional Medical Center's board of directors information packets. Sarbanes-Oxley was created in response to several corporate accounting scandals such as Enron and WorldCom but did touch on not-for-profit entities as well.

Two provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley that impacted nonprofit institutions directly were document retention and destruction policies and periodic changes of audit firms to keep a too-friendly relationship from developing. However, board attorney Bryan Breckenridge said that "Sarbanes Creep" was taking place.

"Sarbanes Creep is expanding into the nonprofit field," Breckenridge said. "There are a lot of issues that aren't specifically required of nonprofits by the bill that are being used as guidelines."

Other changes have impacted nonprofits including a change in the IRS form 990, which nonprofits must fill out, except for those belonging to a governmental agency.

"We don't need to fill out a form 990 because we are a governmental nonprofit organization, we're owned by the city," Cindy Buck, NRMC CFO said.

The new chiller the hospital installed has brought complaints from nearby residents about the noise it creates during part of its work cycle. The board approved up to $60,000 to create a solution that will decrease the noise and be aesthetically pleasing as well.

The board approved purchasing a sign engraving machine that also can create signs using Braille. The current machine is described as very, very old and worn out.

"This machine saves us a lot of time and money," Judy Feuquay, hospital CEO, said. "It doesn't do fancy graphics but it produces signs like on the doors and name plaques on desks. We've used the old machine so much it's just falling apart."

Feuquay said the Doctor's Day celebration was a success with a good turnout. She took the opportunity to announce that Dr. Dan Barnes will transition into a new role at the hospital, head of the Emergency Department to replace Dr. Jerry Jumper. She also announced Dr. Seyed Sajadi had been recruited as the newest addition to the ER.

The Community Health Fair was held at the Osage Prairie YMCA with more than 325 attendees and 60 booths Feuquay said. The hospital filled 58 of the 60 registered stations and supplied 11 booths for the event.

In other business the board approved:

* A contract with Clinical Equipment Repair for $41,400, the same as previous years.

* A contract with Midwest Surgical Services at $600 per procedure. The hospital performs 80 to 90 procedures a year.

* Purchase of six surgical gurneys at a cost of $6,000 per gurney.