NRMC getting new MRI

Friday, June 3, 2011

Correction: the MRI to be purchased by Nevada Regional Medical Center will cost $829,999; $571,000 below the amount budgeted.

Nevada Regional Medical Center directors have approved the purchase of a magnetic resonance imaging unit.

Reporting that the MRI used since 2005 has become out-dated, Diagnostic Imaging Director Todd Fine said Siemens Inc. had the lowest bid, after General Electric and Toshiba offers were reviewed.

"We think it will take over the nuclear stress test in two to three years," Fine said, adding the unit will be installed next door to the mammography room. "Along with blood velocity and flow, it will also give the structure (of the cardio-vascular system)."

In other business May 31, the board heard Long Term Care Administrator Denise Sloniker say Moore-Few and Barone Alzheimer's Care Center had earned "Best Practice in the State of Missouri" recognition from the Missouri Local Area Network for Excellence.

"Three facilities in the state received this award," said Sloniker, noting the honor was for reducing staff turnover and optimizing performance.

Director of Community Relations Aimee Meyer detailed a survey by the national Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers Systems, saying NRMC did well in some areas and needs improvement in others.

Meyer said the hospital's rankings were at the 80th percentile for cleanliness of the hospital environment, 72nd for the provision of discharge information, 70th for communication with doctors and 69th for quietness.

However, she said ratings at the 2nd percentile for pain management and 21st for communication with nurses are concerns that are being addressed.

Dr. William Turner, chief of the medical staff, said pain management could be improved if surgical patients were better informed about the post-operative discomfort they will experience.

Other rankings were at the 36th percentile for staff responsiveness and 22nd for communication about medicine.

Performance Improvement Administrator Holly Bush said staffers have already begun doing more of their work on computers when they are not with patients. "I have had patients tell me, 'You're more interested in the computer than you are in me,'" Bush said.

Financial Strength Committee Chairman Bill Denman said the hospital turned a profit for the second consecutive month in April with gross patients' revenues of $6,258,843 and net income of $101,024.

Reporting admissions of 185 were below the budgeted 205, Denman said NRMC has experienced a net loss of $1,220,043 this fiscal year.

The board also:

* Hired Dr. Marcus Wade of Birmingham, Ala., to become head of the radiology department in August.

* Contracted for three years with Faultless Linen Services of Kansas City with a decrease from 61.8 cents to 50 cents per pound at an annual cost of $71,812 for savings under the 2012 budget's $105,765.

* Agreed to pay Clean The Uniform Co. of St. Louis $121,125 next year for scrub uniforms for the surgical, housekeeping and nutrition departments for savings under the budgeted $143,650.

* Contracted with McRoberts Security Technologies of Lakewood, N.J., for the $54,960 installation, financed by the NRMC Foundation, of a wireless tagging system to prevent the accidental or intentional switching of newborn infants by tagging their umbilical cord clamps.

* Accepted a report that the hospital's clinics at Sheldon and Rich Hill had respective decreases in patients' visits of 21 percent and 18 percent in calendar 2010.

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