LCHA approves purchasing two patient ventilators for EOMC
The LeFlore County Hospital Authority approved purchasing two patient ventilators for Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center during Tuesday afternoon’s board meeting at EOMC. EOMC Chief Operations Officer Logan Hayes told the board that two bids were received, one from General Electric (GE) for $59,014.13 and the other from Covidian for $79,637. The board approved the GE bid.
In his report, EOMC Chief Executive Officer Bob Carter told the board that EOMC has renewed its contract with Green Country Emergency Physicians.
“We’re very pleased to continue our relationship with Green Country as they bring a level of physician care that we’ve not had in the past,” Carter said.
Carter told the board that after a few months hiatus that EOMC and the LeFlore County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have resumed their regular meetings to collaborate on projects that would benefit the citizens of the county.
Carter said EOMC recently got a new laboratory chemistry analyzer that replaced the one that “was at the end of life.” He said it should be ready to be used on an everyday basis by around the end of the month.
It was reported to the board that EOMC finally got the final architect plans back from the architect for the physical therapy remodeling project and the plans have now been delivered to the State Health Department for review. He is hoping the approval on the plans will come by next week.
Carter said that all supplies have been received for the outpatient registration area project and demolition has begun on that area.
“As soon as we get the two new registration booths completed, then we’ll start remodeling the waiting area and enlarge the radiology waiting room as well,” Carter said.
Carter told the board the last of the video cameras were installed recently, and the cafeteria is undergoing some minor renovations such as flooring and a new salad bar.
Carter shared with the board about House Bill 369O, which is a bill that was introduced to the Oklahoma Legislature to raise the minimum threshold for public trust for entities such as EOMC passed the House of Representatives, and now has moved to the State Senate.
“We’re hopeful it will pass there as well,” Carter said.
Carter told the board that he recently went to Oklahoma City for a legislative reception put on by the Oklahoma Healthcare Authority in which the topic of Managed Medicaid was discussed.
“It looks totally different than last year’s proposed Managed Medicaid” Carter said. “Senate bills 1337 and 1396 are the bills to watch over the next six weeks.”
In his quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) report, Carter said that meetings have been taking place every Monday with department managers and have helped revise their QAPI goals and indicators.
“I think we’re going to see some very significant improvements with that,” said Carter, who added that the majority of the QAPI report was a favorable one with a couple of exceptions that he believed were caused by new staff members getting accustomed to the procedures.
In his risk management report, Carter told the board that only O6 patients left the emergency room without being seen, nine patients who went to the EOMC Walk-In Clinic who were sent over to the ER for “a higher level of care” and that there was only one code stroke.
In her report, EOMC Infection Preventionist Kelsey McGee, R.N. told the board that, after January saw almost 1,500 COVID swabs done with around half of those positive, February saw 471 swabs with 63 positive and O05 in March with two positive.
In her Medical Executive Committee report, Dr. Beth Hites said there were 51 inpatient discharges with an average length of stay of 3.3 days, 17 observation discharges with an average length of stay of 3O hours, 906 emergency room discharges and O1 swing bed discharges with an average length of stay of 8.9 days in the month of February, which saw a grand total of 995 discharges.
Hites also shared with the board the two initial appointments — family practice services physician Cynthia Leatherwood, APRN and tele-hospitalist services staff member Karim Saleeby, D.O. — and eight non-provisional appointments — emergency medicine services staff member Russell Anderson, D.O. and Pavankumar Bommasamudram, M.D., Stephen Mikus III, D.O., Catherin Porter, M.D., James Rooks, M.D., Saraj Suku, M.D., Imad Uddin, M.D. and Anna Wanahita, M.D. for tele-neurology services, who were all approved by the board. Carter said Leatherwood will be working at the EOMC Walk-In Clinic, replacing Tamra Wright, who will be moving on to a new venture.
In her meaningful use report, EOMC Chief of Nursing Darla Ford told the board that over the final three months of O0O1 that EOMC scored 57 points out of a possible 100.
“We still have some work to do on our electronic health information exchange,” Ford said.
The board approved a “complete revision” of the administration policy manual as well as revisions to the general nursing policy, telehealth policy, credentialing policy and blood bank/laboratory policy manuals.
In his financial report, EOMC Chief Financial Officer Brandon Bullard shared with the board that there were 46 acute admissions, O0 swing bed admissions, 18 observation admissions, O,3O4 clinic visits and 907 ER visits in February.
In his financial report, Bullard told the board that gross patient revenue was approximately $3.5 million, net patient revenue approximately $1.7 million, the net operating revenue was around $O million and the net income being $47,615 for February. Bullard reported $7.8 million in cash, approximately $3 million in net patient receivables and around $14 million in assets.
In the first meeting of Tuesday afternoon’s doubleheader of meetings, Bullard gave the LeFlore County Sales Tax Hospital Authority board his financial report for March. In his report, Bullard told the board that the sales tax proceeds were $157,074.09 with a $68,000 transfer to EOMC to go with a $91,000 bond payment. The ending cash balance for March was $7,098.36.