At the April 29 meeting of the Hospital Board the LarsonAllen audit firm presented the results of its audit for the years ending December 31, 2002 and 2003. Overall, the firm reported that the audit went well, that the Hospital has a “good finance team.” The balance sheet is strong; the hospital is in a good position, especially relative to comparable hospitals.
Statistics on patient use were included in the Management Discussion and Analysis portion of the report. Total patient days, for example, have increased
from 19,919 in 2001 to 20,308 in 2003. Outpatient admissions increased from 25,726 in 2001 to 28,038 in 2003. The average length of stay for acute care decreased from 2.39 days in 2001 to 2.26 in 2003.
In other actions, the Board
>authorized the Hospital to engage the architectural firm Mohagen Hansen to design offsite clinic facilities in Lonsdale, Elko/New Market and in Lakeville/Farmington;
>heard a report that the conversion of computer systems to Meditech went well, but that the training is both arduous and on-going: for example, it takes 8 hours per nurse to train each of 114 nurses to use the new system;
>approved plans for a strategic planning retreat May 14 and 15 at Oak Ridge Conference Center in Chaska.
–Mary Steen, Hospital Board Observer
