The Kiowa County Hospital District and County Board met in regular session on May 24, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bank Meeting Room.

District Board members present were: Gary Aughenbaugh, Roland Sorensen, Robert Woods and Cathryn Anderson. Absent: John Negley (called)

County Board members present were: Sylvia Shields, Dennis Pearson, Kim Harris and Lori Shalberg. Absent: Craig Kerfoot (called)

Others present: Tristen Sheridan, Braylynn Eder, Dawn Back, Wendy McDowell, Char Korrell, Priscilla Waggoner, Shannon Dixon, Cindy McLoud, Kevin Siefkas and Mary Eikner.

The meeting was called to order by Gary Aughenbaugh, Chairman of the Board.

COUNTY VOTING MEMBERS: Dennis Pearson, Kim Harris and Lori Shalberg

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A motion was made to approve the April minutes by Sorensen and Shalberg seconded it. All aye.

AGENDA: Add Clinic Report and Apartments. A motion was made by Anderson to approve the Agenda as amended and it was seconded by Woods. All aye.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

FINANCE COMMITTEE: The April financials were reviewed. We had some inpatient and swingbed days this month. We currently have 16 residents in the ECU. Overall we had a decent month. Days out were reviewed. The check register was reviewed.

PLANNING COMMITTEE: We need to organize a strategic planning meeting with the Board, some employees and some community members. Anderson also suggested that we appoint a new chairman for the planning committee.

GRANT COMMITTEE: Sheridan sent in the first quarter report for 2016 to DOLA. We have received reimbursement for the Ultrasound machine. We received an email from Emerald today stating that all plans had been resubmitted to the State and we are waiting for final approval. The Providers are going to take a class so they can have limited use of the Ultrasound for emergencies.

CREDENTIALING

Dr. Sean Oquist, Dr. Barry Smith and Dr. Fred Feinsod submitted their privileges for renewal. There were no changes. Sorensen made a motion to approve privileges for all three providers and Harris seconded it. All aye.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES

Ambulance, Medical Records and Housekeeping policies were presented for review this month. Medical Staff has approved these. Shalberg made a motion to approve the submitted policies and Anderson seconded it. All aye.

OLD BUSINESS

MARCUM HOUSE: The Marcum house was discussed. The lease/purchase agreement was declined. It was decided that we would sell it outright, not through a lease/purchase, if the person is interested. A motion was made by Shalberg to deny the lease/purchase option and it was seconded by Woods. All aye.

NEW BUSINESS

ECU & HOSPITAL REPORT: We are having an Alzheimer’s inservice for our employees tomorrow at noon and then a community presentation at Cobblestone tomorrow at 2:30pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Hospital week went very well. We had a lot of participation on our dress up days and the Residents enjoyed all of the activities. The barbeque went well and our balloon lift was the best we have had in a long time.

Korrell gave a report on the Eads Medical Clinic. They had 74 referrals for May. There were 141 admissions to Hospital ancillary services from Clinic. They are trying to improve their process for the 340B prescriptions. We are using a couple different locum companies to cover our provider shortage. June and July are covered. Centriq has added a new Referral program and this should help with our follow up on referrals and keeping track of documentation. We are going to have a couple new nurses working at the Clinic. One of these positions will be new and will help with discharge education and our chronic disease program. There have been some complaints about referrals taking a long time. The Clinic is keeping up on these, but once the referral is done and insurance is approved, it is up to the referral physician’s office to call the patient for an appointment.

Sheridan continues to work with the RHC Initiative regarding legislative updates. There are always new models coming through to help small hospitals stay in business.

Dr. Feinsod was here today for our monthly meeting. Charts were reviewed. We are starting a high alert system. The front desk will alert the Nurse’s Stations when someone on our high alert list comes to the facility. This will help prevent any adverse situations. Brandy Turcotte is our new Social Services Director and is doing a good job.

We will be touring Fort Lyon on the 31st to see what they have to offer. We are seeing more patients come through that do not have a home and this could be an option for them.

We are working with Domestic Safety about training some of our nurses to be SANE nurses. Currently if there is a sexual abuse case, the patient is sent to Parkview for an exam. We could possibly be the central location for southeast Colorado and offer that service here. We would need to purchase some equipment for this, but there are grants available.

Our vital sign monitors are starting to malfunction. To replace them, the cost would be $2,775.45 per vital sign monitor. We currently have three. Discussion followed. A motion was made by Shalberg to replace two of the units for approximately $6,000 and Sorensen seconded it. All aye.

OATHS: Waggoner, Eikner and Shields took their oaths as the newly elected District board members. Woods thanked Sorensen, Negley and Aughenbaugh for their years of service. Sorensen thanked Tristen Sheridan and said that in the six and a half years that he was on the board that he worked with three different CEO's and that Tristen Sheridan has done more for the Hospital District than the other two combined and he thanked her for that.

New offices for the Board:

Chairman – Mary Eikner

Vice Chairman – Robert Woods

Secretary/Treasurer – Sylvia Shields

DENTAL SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTH: At the annual KCEDF meeting they introduced the new dental company coming to Eads. They will begin coming July 13 and will be here once a month through November. The dates are posted on our website. They will be located in the old Public Health building next door to the Hospital. Appointments will be made by calling the Hospital. After January 1, they will move their appointments to the weekends. This will be a nice addition to our community.

BOARD TRAINING: We have some recorded board training sessions that we will be setting up times for board members to watch. There is also some training offered by the Special District Association on June 9 or June 13, either in Fountain or Centennial. Please let Sheridan know if you are interested so we can enroll you.

APARTMENTS: Our apartments have been full recently with the locums we are using. We need to find some solutions for this. Shields stated that their duplex, could be used as extra housing. There would need to be some changes made, but this could be a possibility.

A motion was made by Anderson that we go into executive session to consider personnel matters pursuant to and as permitted by CRS 24-6-402(4)(f)(I) and Woods seconded it. All aye.

Executive session was convened at 8:49 p.m.

The meeting was returned to regular session at 9:06 p.m.

A motion was made by Woods to pursue the doctor bonus and no mediation shall be done and Shields seconded it. All aye.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:07 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kiowa County Hospital District Board

Sylvia Shields, Secretary-Treasurer