DAYTON—At their regular meeting on July 28 Columbia County Health System commissioners approved a resolution to create a link to Banner Bank on the CCHS website. This will allow a more convenient payment process for patients, and help make collection faster.

CCHS Controller Tom Meyers also reported on June’s financial picture to the commissioners. Meyers told the board that June’s gross patient revenue was $93,000 higher than in May. He also said that outpatient revenue was strong and exceeded the budget by $73,000, and that the acute patient census is higher in 2016.

CEO Shane McGuire agreed that the financial picture for June is good. He added that cash on hand has improved by 8.7 days to 20.4, through a combination of managed expenses, managed accounts payable and continued strong business.

McGuire said he is seeking short term lending options through Banner Bank to help with cash flow, as a contingency.

“We are going to take care of cash flow, and not run up debt,” McGuire assured the commissioners.

There have been some accounts receivable revenue cycle challenges as a result of electronic health records conversions, but a backlog of unbilled claims is currently being processed, said McGuire.

“It will be good for us to get biller Trubridge out of the system,” he said.

Any outstanding, uncollected revenue Trubridge is sitting on will be processed by Compliance Officer Cheryl Skiffington’s team, he told the commissioners.

Hospital renovation and enhancement

McGuire told the commissioners that the Department of Health has given the go-ahead to the hospital renovation and enhancement project, and that approval from Labor and Industries has been granted, as well.

Abatement of the asbestos tiles has been performed by the contractor, and air monitoring has shown no asbestos fibers outside of the demolition site, he said.

McGuire said that demolition in advance of the pharmacy department remodel has begun, and a temporary wall has been constructed to protect the sterilization processes there.

The contractor has reported some unforeseen costs from some sewer and water line issues, requiring $12,000 from the general contractor/general manager contingency to pay for mitigation, McGuire said.

Evacuation of the pool, water and sewer lines has been completed, with a few sewer line issues discovered. Plans are in place to replace the sewer line from the annex to a grassy area across from the Luce building, so that a new line is in place under the asphalt, and if there are future issues, repairs will be less costly, he said.

The water line is leaking, but the new water line will be in place by August 4, said McGuire.

McGuire said the contractor dug through an undocumented and non-located drain line from the kitchen into the sewer system, and the line will need to be abandoned and replaced with a new line.

The contractor reports that the project is still on target for completion by December 31.

Security and privacy

For the past few weeks CCHS has been assessed for security and privacy by a third-party contractor, McGuire told the commissioners.

The electronic data systems, personnel, processes and protocols have been investigated through multiple attack vectors through onsite and remote social engineering, “phishing” attacks and computer system vulnerability attacks, and a 119-page report with findings has been submitted.

McGuire said that staff education and taking privacy seriously are the best ways to deal with privacy and security problems. Work is being done to get staff up to compliance.

Identification badges are now required to be worn by all contractors, workers and staff at the hospital, he added.

Outreach and business enhancement initiatives

McGuire told the commissioners that former hospital employee Haley Hale has been hired for sales and marketing, and she will begin working on outreach, beginning on August 15.

Work continues on creating a wound care program at the hospital. McGuire said that Dr. Jane Fore, of Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, Ida., has volunteered to work with CCHS medical providers on utilization of the hyperbaric chamber for wound care. He said that Dr. Frauenpreis will assume the lead on that.

“They have a pretty fantastic wound care program,” McGuire said about Gritman’s program.

McGuire said he is still waiting for the draft agreement from Walla Walla General Hospital to provide CCHS with cardiology and sonography services.

”We are also tracking patient bypasses for the last six to twelve months, and are working with EMS relationships to see that patients choose to come here, and don’t bypass us, “McGuire said.

Creation of Aging in Communities program

Chief Nursing Officer Stephanie Carpenter has agreed to manage the newly created “Aging in our Communities” program. McGuire explained that the vision of the program is to allow people the option to age gracefully in the community, and he hopes CCHS will move beyond the role of simply providing long-term and assisted living care. “I’m excited about it,” he said.

Some of Carpenter’s duties at the Booker Rest Home will be shared by other staff as she moves into her new responsibilities, McGuire said.