VMH experiences $41,000 loss for August

by Brianne Eilers

The month of August showed a loss of $41,915 for Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon. Acute patient days were down 21.7%, and skilled patient days were down 21.9% from a year ago. These factors led to inpatient revenue being off about $150,000 from what had been budgeted. Outpatient revenue was also down a little bit.
“I can tell you that September has been extremely busy,” noted VMH administrator Mike Myers. He further stated that they are anticipating things staying busy as the flu season gets underway.
On the flu front, vaccination clinics are starting. The regular flu vaccine is available to everyone. “I would encourage as many people as possible to get a flu shot,” Myers said. The H1N1 vaccine is not in yet, and Myers noted that when it does arrive, it will come in increments. The hospital will be following the recommendations of the Center of Disease Control (CDC) for the administration process, until all the vaccine is gone.
Those who fall into the high-risk category for H1N1 include pregnant women, teenagers, young adults, children and healthcare workers. The vaccine will first be available to those in the high-risk categories.
There have been inquiries from other hospitals made to VMH regarding some of the high scores that VMH has been receiving in its quality control initiatives. Inquiries have been made about what the housekeeping department is doing to make VMH one of the cleanest hospitals in the nation. They have also had other facilities call to see what VMH is doing to reduce falls.
“It feels like it’s deserved recognition from the people who are just doing their job, but to others on the outside, they see them doing their job like they’d like to see in their own facilities,” Myers stated.
In other matters, the hospital’s conversion to digital radiology is nearing completion, and Myers described the new facility as “state of the art.”
VMH will be meeting with the engineers for the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) project and the contractors who will be laying the cable. Myers stated that while they had to wait for government approval of an ICN plan, it has been approved and VMH will be one of the few hospitals in Iowa to get it done in 2009.