Paris, TN – It was a long, busy, and productive night at the November Henry County Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting Thursday featuring a flag ceremony by a local Daisy Troop, a visit from the Grinch, as well as some great reports related to the FY 2019 financial audit and quality reports presented.
The evening began with a flag ceremony by Daisy Troop 40100 presented by Dr. Pam Evans, obstetrician at Paris Women’s Center. This was the first time the five and six year old girls had done the flag ceremony as family and friends observed.
Following the flag ceremony was a presentation by Henry County Health Care Administrator Sandra Ray discussing the great state survey that they had last week where only two minor deficiencies were found that were corrected before the surveyors left. She also discussed the outstanding community outreach the Healthcare Center has done including the Halloween activities where over 300 kids came and trick or treated at the facility as well as a following of the Grinch’s patient experience that is being documented on social media. The Grinch was also on hand at the board meeting as a special guest.
In Casteel’s administrative report, trustees were reminded that Dr. Wayne Gibson, Cardiologist, will be joining the St. Thomas Heart Group and the local community next week as the first full-time Cardiologist. Also next week, Dr. Boxell, OB/GYN, will be joining Paris Women’s Center. Casteel is the new President of the Hospital Alliance of TN, and has just recently been asked to serve on the full board of the TN Hospital Association.
Chief Finance Officer Dale Guffey gave the financial report for October. Again, October financial results were not what the organization had hoped for and continue to trend less than budgeted, with a loss of $681,327 for the month. Census for November has improved about half way through the month. The board approved this report along with $655,505 in bad debt and $101,723 in capital equipment requests related to wound care, ER, and other items needed within the facility.
In other business, the Board of Trustees discussed a new committee, Security Development, that administration would like board representation. Kreg Kyle and Jamey Tosh have both agreed to serve on this committee. Additionally, Kreg Kyle’s term was renewed for the board with a vote during the meeting.
Lastly, Neely Ashby provided the quality report for the quarter. She discussed our current Star Rating of 3 as well as our overall improvement in patient satisfaction scores for the organization from the 59.3 to 67.2.
Ashby discussed our reduction in all cause patient readmits at 10.65%. Currently, all measures are better than HCMC and State goals. HCMC now has four service line accreditations and will be applying for four more. Please see our website for these listings.
Ashby also presented on the Emergency Room improvements that have led to a reduction in door to doc wait times, a reduction in patients leaving before being seen as well as left without being triaged. Complaints have reduced and patient satisfaction scores have also seen a significant jump.
“We have been getting calls with compliments instead of complaints about our Emergency Room,” said Ashby. “The morale of staff in the ER as well as throughout the hospital is pleasant and happy. Everyone is busy, but they are busy doing what they love and it is translating into improved satisfaction by our staff.”
Ashby also distributed a psychiatric quality improvement scorecard showing improved results in all areas.
“All across the hospital there is such a focus on improvement,” said Casteel. “The team is focused on what we need to do and you can see it through quality reports like this one.”
Top photo: The Grinch with Hospital CEO Lisa Casteel; bottom, the Daisy Troop with Dr. Evans. (HCMC photo).
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