The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-At their board meeting on Jan. 25, Columbia County Health System commissioners heard from CEO Shane McGuire about latest schematic showing the new layout of Dayton General Hospital after the upcoming remodel is completed.

"We are still refining the schematic," said CEO Shane McGuire about the redesign.

The schematic shows the emergency room entry where the current main entry is. It will be moved slightly to the right of the existing entry, replacing some business offices, McGuire said.

Contrary to previous plans, the Emergency Room facilities will not be moved. However, the emergency department nurses' station will be located to the left of the new ER entrance. Acute/swing beds will be located on the south wall of the building. Pharmacy and Diagnostic Imaging departments will be moved to the core of the facility.

The schematic shows the new main entrance located on the north side of the building with ready access to outpatient services, including laboratory, diagnostic imaging, business offices, and rehabilitation services and the new aquatic therapy pool. The gift shop and Dietary and Engineering Services are to be located on the northeast section of the building.

"We have to remain flexible," said McGuire. "We won't truthfully know what we are fully doing until we get into the construction phase."

McGuire also told the board that a new CCHS website has been created to give the public access to information and updates regarding the hospital redesign/remodel project.

A remodel discussion forum, remodel event calendar, and remodel documents, including the hospital redesign schematic, can be viewed on the new site at: build.cchd-wa.org.

In his report to the commissioners McGuire said the new Meditech ER Solutions computer system purchased by CCHS should be up and running on March 1. He said a training schedule is being finalized, with training to take place in February for admitting personnel and for nurses.

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McGuire told the commissioners about some workflow/module oversights when the Meditech ER Solutions computer system was purchased last year. These include interface costs associated with getting billing to flow from one system to the other.

McGuire said he would like to see Quick Claim Medical Billing, the contract company responsible for the clinic billing, take over the hospital billing that is currently done by Trubridge, Inc. This is due to a higher level of performance for Quick Claim Medical Billing, he said. Doing so would eliminate the interface costs of around $35,000, to get the billing to flow from Trubridge to INHS/Meditech, he explained.

A clearing house module for seamless flow of billing would need to be created at a cost to the hospital district of $40,000. McGuire said that having that in place would clear the path for Quick Claims Medical Billing to take over the billi