Submitted by Ann Ness, League of Women Voters Observer
Board Chair Steve Delzer called the monthly Board meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. with a presentation by the Hospital Auxiliary President Ellen Cox. Through its proceeds from the annual Book Fair, the Auxiliary donated more than $28,000 to cover important equipment needs, including a community notification phone system to aid in summoning staff in times of mass casualty disasters.
The community notification system will be purchased from a Bloomington firm at a cost of $21,950.00. Besides its notification features, it also has the ability to help with data gathering for strategic planning and performance assessment as well as patient compliance with discharge instructions. The rest of the funds donated by the Auxiliary will purchase a dual chamber infusion pump for the Hospital’s chemotherapy program ($2,700) and a new lift for the Long Term Care Center ($3,995). Ken Bank noted that the gift of the community notification system is a really “big deal” and a “big enhancement for the Emergency Response Rate.”Next, Mary Crow gave a Meditech implementation update. Mary said she wanted to give the Board a sense of the enormity of the work involved in computerizing everything. She said she is very proud of the staff. When attending the eHealth Summit, she learned that the Northfield Hospital was the only hospital who had come this far. In the first year, the business (registration and billing) implementation had to happen before the clinic. They went from paper to computer. Northfield Hospital teams traveled to Boston for an intense training. Team members took all paper systems and started to work to a computer outline. This included all converting all paper forms to computer which was a big process. Then began application training. Most modules required 3 days of training and some, more. They put in test patient records to do a parallel run. They developed training materials. The big day was when they went live. This process occurred from the fourth quarter of 2003 to the first and second quarter of 2004. Gary Anderson, Pharmacist, in particular has done a lot of work because pharmacy affects all areas. The nursing staf did 8 hours of training. In August 2004, long-term care went live. In September 2004, the Emergency Room module was added. The physicians writing orders online said it slowed them down at first but now like the system. There are nearly 1000 procedures related to the Operating Room. In May 2005 the Patient Care System was added. The nursing staff had 12 more hours of training. There are continued improvements worked on a monthly basis at first; now application changes are made on a weekly basis every Wednesday. There are benefits to having an electronic record.
The Board Meeting Minutes of 6-30-05 were approved. The 2006-2008 Strategic Plan was approved with an amendment by Curt Swenson of the words “independent from any health care system.” The Applications for Medical Staff Membership/Privileges were approved.
David Oliver gave a regional clinics update. He noted that the Hospital is just coming out of building a new building and is now working on a new clinic building. There is now a roof on the clinic. He anticipates opening in early October. The building still reflects the steel delay. They have completed hiring 5 staff (3 are transfers and 2 are internal hires). Training and orientation will begin about September 12. Dr. Griff Kelley, the second doctor, has moved to Northfield. He joins Dr. Greig Glover. Go to www.lonsdaleclinic.org for a look at the clinic.
The Women’s Health Center at 710 Division is moving next Thursday or Friday and opening at the Hospital site on August 8. Dr. Melanie Dixon will be added on August 1. There are 3 obstetricians.
David spent two hours working with architects and developers for both the Lonsdale clinic and the Lakeville/Farmington clinic site. They hope to get into the ground in Lakeville by October 5.
Hospital By-Laws were handed out, but because there were no changes no action was needed. The By-Laws are renewed every one or two years.
Roger Stapek gave his administrative report. He said the Hospital made $64,000 last month. The in-patient care was over budget; the out-patient was lagging. The nursing home was right on budget. There is a positive cash flow of $604,000. Surgery is below projections. Lab tests are up. A Medicare settlement for 2002 of $239,810 was received. June and July are normally the slowest months of the year. With respect to selling the Hospital’s houses from its old site, they may not close until 2006.
Scott Davis asked about benefiting by using government pricing. Ken says that the Hospital is part of another buying group. With respect to Design/Build versus a competitive bidding process, the Hospital is required to do the latter.
A tour of the new Women’s Health Center was postponed from this meeting to the August meeting because it is not fully cleaned and furnished yet.
The meeting adjourned at the early hour of 7:40 p.m.