VMH posts small November profit

by Brianne Eilers

The monthly meeting of the Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Board of Directors was held Wednesday, December 23. This was also a joint meeting with medical staff, and the majority of the meeting was spent on re-credentialling the medical staff, a process which needs to be done every two years.
In financial matters, the month of November ended up showing a small profit of $3,700. Year-to-date, VMH has a net income of $16,015, down significantly from the $90,375 net income shown last year-to-date. VMH Administrator Mike Myers stated that, typically, the first half of the year is the first half, and the second half usually begins with a loss, so he could not speculate what the new year will bring for VMH. Acute days were down for the month from last November, with a comparison of 124 to 156. Deliveries were also down. Skilled patient days were up slightly from last November. In regards to outpatient services, some were up and some were down. "It's essentially pretty flat," noted Myers. Inpatient revenue was in at $540,937, which is lower than the budgeted $613,444. Outpatient revenue came in at $1,044,837, which is slightly higher than the budgeted $1,012,384. Myers also pointed out that  Also in financial matters, the number of days in accounts receivable is up slightly at 82.8, due mostly to matters of personnel, and VMH is in the process of hiring to help alleviate those issues. VMH does, however, have $1,424,000 in cash reserves, which Myers said would "allow us to continue to function, even at break even, for a few years." Myers also noted that if VMH had gone ahead with pay raises, they would be at about a $120,000 loss, and if they had one less skilled patient per day they would be at a around a $150,000 loss. In other financial news, Medicare has audited VMH and has taken back $4,100 from '08. Myers noted that VMH does not currently have any way to appeal the audit because it is a closed Medicare cost report.  
In patient satisfaction, VMH has received their results for the month of November. They received a "Likelihood to Recommend" rating of 93% of 5's on Inpatient surveys. Myers noted that there has been a decrease from previous ratings in E.R., and that they are continuing to monitor the patient satisfaction in that area. He also explained that there were only three surveys returned on the night shift for the E.R.
In other matters, VMH is looking to purchase a new birthing tub. The tub has been used for labor and delivery for 100 people, and is now leaky and "showing its age." VMH is currently the only hospital in the area offering this service, and purchasing a new tub will allow them to continue to offer water birthing as an option. The H1N1 flu vaccine is now available to everyone. VMH will be holding vaccination clinics, and appointments can be made through Community and Home Care at VMH. VMH also implemented a new policy on using online social networking sites, like Facebook and Myspace, for example.
Myers also touched on health care reform, stating that the Public Option appears to no longer be an option. He also pointed out that there are bills in the Senate and House, and that even if either one of those bills is passed, there will still be over 15 million people without health insurance coverage under those plans. He also said that if the Government is truly not spending tax dollars on health care reform, then the payment will be coming from physicians and hospitals. VMH is continuing to monitor the health care reform issue.
Several annual reports were reviewed, including the Critical Access Hospital report. In the report, it stated that VMH had a total of 783 acute care admissions for FY09, 124 skilled care admissions, and 79 inpatient surgeries were preformed. There were 2,813 patient visits to the E.R., and 1,085 visits to the weekend clinic. Total number of inpatient services was 43,259, a 5% increase from FY08, while total outpatient services showed a 6% increase from FY08 with a total of 97,559. In the area of safety, VMH had reductions in both Outpatient and Visitor falls, Hospital-wide fall safety and reducing employee variances are still top priorities for VMH.
An application was submitted to the Iowa Quality Center's IRPE process, based on findings from the Malcolm Baldridge Healthcare Criteria for Performance Excellence. Some of the strong points for VMH included high levels of employee involvement thorough participatory management style, gathering of information from multiple sources in key areas of importance, active support of VMH's community, strong financial performance, and strong inpatient satisfaction results. Areas where there were concerns include cycles of learning, "aging workforce", and inclusion of comparative data.