The Murray County Medical Center Hospital Board met on August 25, 2021. There were no conflicts of interest. The agenda and minutes from the previous meeting were approved. Next, Dr. Snow gave a report on the medical staff meeting. There is one doctor that is being seriously considered to start as a locum and after 6 months, if he/she is a good fit for us would be moved to permanent. They will have to be credentialed first, which will take several months. Dr. Snow also presented the appointment and reappointment changes. All were approved.
Next, the 2020 Audit Report Presentation from Clifton Larson Allen was presented in detail. They commended Robyn Van Heuvelen and her department for controlling expenses during Covid. That, combined with writing grants, the Relief Fund, Cares Funds and PPP helped MCMC to come through this year much better than some small hospitals that CLA works with. Highlights include: Operating margin was -11% last year and at break even this year. Today’s cash on hand increased from 77 days of operation last year to 210 days this year. Debt service covered went from -.3 to 4.6.
Robyn Van Heuvelen gave her financial report. Many areas are up from last year. Some are still down from 2019s pre-Covid numbers. “Gross revenue is again very close to budget. The hospital side is doing well to budget, but the clinic is still not seeing the patients. Contractuals are way higher than we want to see, and AR sent a large amount to collections thus helping the AR days to drop by 10. Good monthly collections also helped with this drop.”
CEO Luke Schryvers recognized Arl Weinrebe from the Maintenance Dept. who will be retiring September 23rd, after almost 40 years of service to the hospital. There are some open positions. MCMC filled the maintenance position yesterday. They have some good candidates for the Compliance Specialist, RN and Radiology Technician, so expect these will soon be filled.
Covid report: MCMC has seen 1105 positive Covid cases. Vaccination rate is at 60.5% which is up 2%. The focus is to get above 70%. Drive-thru testing is available. If you wish to be tested, please set up an appointment for the Drive thru test. They have also begun to triage patients as they come for appointments. If you have symptoms, you will be asked to get tested. They are not presently testing before procedures, but that may be coming our way, too. The CDC has now made the booster shot for Pfizer and Moderna available to anyone who is immune compromised. MCMC has already administered some of these and wll make sure anyone who qualifies will get that dose. It is expected that they will be available to everyone else shortly. They encourage everyone to get vaccinated! It has been approved for you to get it done the same time you get your flu shot, it will just be in your other arm. Dr. Snow interjected that he is very confident in the vaccines. Nothing is different about the third shot. He expects Moderna will be approved within a few weeks. Data is limited on switching brands. He recommends that you get the same kind you got the first two times.
What is so different about the Delta variant? Dr. Snow suggests “It has overwhelming particles, that you can become ill before your immune system can respond from the vaccine. When your immune system kicks in, you get rid of the symptoms quickly, in general. In the meantime, it is so contagious that you pass it along. Even if you are immunized, you may get the medication necessary to recover quickly. It is RARE for someone who has been vaccinated to end up in the hospital.”
Dale Gillogly next gave the Sanford Report. Sanford in Sioux Falls has opened their Incident Command on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They will be opening Driveup testing in Sioux Falls, as well. They are moving “back to big numbers” Last week they gave 2500 tests. In Rapid City (8 days after the rally ended) they had 52 positive cases. Meep County( includes Rapid City) has a 36% positive rate. It is speculated that the two events are connected. Sioux Falls is also seeing more Covid in children, not a huge number, but they are “pretty sick”. Sanford has about 20 patients and he guessed Avera’s numbers were about the same. A month ago, there were zero cases. Up to 50% of inpatients are on ventilators.
Gillogy’s next item was a cyber incident. On August 2, what they are calling a “bad actor” attempted to access the Sanford system. Fortunately, Sanford was able to successfully catch it early. They temporarily turned off the systems to protect other hospitals. No patient care was impacted. A few reports may have been delayed a bit. They went back to “old school”, using the fax lines instead.
Monica Van Otterloo gave the patient care update. She reiterated that Covid positive cases that need hospitalization usually have not been vaccinated. She, once again, encouraged everyone who can, to get vaccinated. She clarified that she understands people’s frustration, thinking if they get vaccinated they won’t get Covid at all. She went on to explain that viruses change. What a vaccine does is to teach your body how to fight a virus with the antibodies so you can quickly recover in your own home. Monica also addressed transfers. If you should need to be transferred to a bigger hospital, it may be too full, with NO ICU beds available.
