Dave Emery, LWV Observer
Reports
1. Board members reported on a Minnesota Hospital Association Trustee Conference which several of them attended. Many of the sessions dealt with the new Federal health act, and the possible implications of the act for hospitals in MN. The details of the act aren’t known at this time, as the regulations still need to be written. The Board was concerned that NCH stay on top of the coming changes.
2. The Board welcomed Mark Brown as the new Clinic Division Administrator. Mark is a Mayo employee, under contract to the hospital, and he had been working at Mayo facilities in Lake City, MN.
Action Items
1. The Board voted to approve the Organizational Goals and Objectives for 2010. There was discussion on how the goals and objectives will be communicated throughout the organization and the medical staff. It was pointed out that the physicians are “partners” of the hospital, rather than employees.
2. The Board approved the applications for medical staff membership. There was a discussion of a change in process requiring a physician to have received special training to be approved for some procedures.
Discussion Item
The CEO and the CFO presented a mid-year report on the financial position of the hospital and clinics. The recession has reduced admissions, patient days, etc. and therefore revenues. The hospital has adjusted by trying to reduce expenses. The hospital budgeted for a deficit of over $1 million for 2010, and it is likely to happen, but it is too early to forecast the exact deficit for the year. I don’t recall that the financial data for the clinics was broken out, but I got the impression that the clinics are still a problem. On the positive side, the clinics are contributing a growing number of in patients to the hospital, and the Board seemed satisfied with the progress being made. The hospital and clinics will continue to search for ways to be more efficient.
Other
A Board member noted a problem he has encountered locally. Medicare will pay for a short stay in a long-term care facility, if the person has been an inpatient in an acute care hospital for 3 days. Given the financial pressure from Medicare, fewer people are being admitted, and the stays are shorter, so fewer persons on Medicare qualify to have Medicare pay for a long-term care facility.
