Local News – Thursday, December 16th, 2021

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Director’s meeting was held Tuesday evening in the Hospital Library. In the summary of operations for the month of November, the hospital had 88 inpatient admissions with 279 inpatient census days. The hospital showed a loss from operations of $425,801 and had an excess of expenses over revenues of $424,511. During the month, McKesson Suppliers who provide supplies for the lab department, were going through a transition so the hospital had to pay for two months of supplies that came to near $160,000. During the month, there were 635 emergency room visits with 54 admissions, plus there were 204 ambulance runs where 142 patients were transported. In November there were 27 surgery cases, 1,520 outpatient registrations, 7,283 lab tests, 1,142 radiological procedures, 686 rehab treatments and 181 home health visits with 12 home health admissions. The Long-Term Care Center currently now has 17 residents with one vacancy remaining. The days in account receivable during the month went up to 69 days from 65 in October and was down from the 103 days last November. The days cash on hand went down to 46 days and there was a cash decrease during the month of $151,754. Chief of Nursing Ashley Sullins gave the Acute Care Staffing by Patient Acuity report that showed the average acuity was 20 with an average of nine patients per day. Sullins reported that as of December 13th, there were 74 active COVID cases in Dent County. Sullins said Dent County is currently showing 30.1% of the residents are completely vaccinated and 33.8% have initiated the series. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas said the hospital continues to monitor Paylocity as part of the Cerner Conversion. The Cerner working timeline has Integrated Testing 3 scheduled for January 11th, 12th and 13th for the clinical portion; and January 18th, 19th and 20th for the financial portion with the “go-live” date set for March 14th. The hospital submitted their plan of action for the CLIA Survey but had to discontinue most of the lab testing on December 3rd as CLIA did not accept the plan of corrections at that time. Working with A & J Consultants, the hospital has implemented new policies and procedures, implemented needed educational requirements for all technicians, implemented new quality assurance equipment and software for documentation of oversight, plus implemented new chemistry and coagulation equipment. On Monday, the hospital reinstated time critical lab tests for the Emergency Department and the Medical and Surgery Department. The hospital continues to make progress toward getting the entire lab back online. The issues that affected the lab were disorganization and that the equipment needed updating and repair which is currently being done. The hospital has purchased other equipment that meets the quality assurance protocol they are using now for the tests. Lucas said there is one candidate who has registered for District 3 Board seat to date with the final day to sign-up being December 28th at 4:00. The seat is currently held by Dennis Fiebelman. The board approved a Board Resolution for Financial Transactions to sell some stock that the hospital had since they had a retirement plan with MetLife. The resolution will allow them to sell the stock from the Hanover Insurance Group, Brighthouse and Computershare, Inc. Lucas reviewed the vaccination mandate timeline with the board as no further court action has taken place on that matter. In new business, the board approved three non-budgeted purchases including the purchase of a refurbished colonoscope from Olympus America for $20,577.50, the purchase of the Point-of-Care Lab Analyzer from Abbott Diagnostics for $11,121.33, and the purchase of two Chemistry Analyzer-Piccolo Express for $15,300 each for a total of $30,600. All the purchases have a one-year parts and labor warranty. The board then spoke with Diane Godi who was in attendance about the problems with the lab to get a better understanding of how the lab works before going into closed session.

The Salem R-80 Board of Education regular meeting will be held this evening at 6:00 in the high school library. After approval of the consent agenda and approval of all previous minutes the board is expected to approve bills, the food service report, attendance report, substitute list, and program evaluations. Ken Shultz will then present the audit report for approval. The board will then hear principal’s reports from William Lynch Elementary, the upper elementary, middle school, and senior high, along with a report from the athletic department. New business is expected to include the selection of the MSBA Belcher Scholarship recipient, the MUSIC renewal, the declaration of surplus property and to consider the SRCSP revisions. The board will then go into closed session. The Salem R-80 Board of Education meeting is open to the public.