Friday, May 29, 2015

Hospital To Buy New X-Ray Machine

The Bradley County Medical Center Board meet May 28th for the regular monthly meeting.  The first order of business was to listen to a presentation by Rhonda Simmons who oversees data processing, billing and insurance.  She informed the board how the hospital bills, collects and deals with insurance, medicare, medicaid and other medical coverage.  She told the board she tries to help people find the best way to pay for their medical care.  According to Mrs. Simmons many families face a difficult time covering the cost of hospital care when insurance or other coverage is insufficient or non existent.

Brandon Gorman, the hospital CFO provided the financial report and updates on out patient care, surgeries and physical therapy.  He reported that surgeries are up for the past month and physical therapy has increased 13%.  Admissions were also up for the past month.  Overall the hospital experienced a net loss of 48,623.00 for April, 2015.  Mr. Gorman also gave the Home Health Care report.

The board voted to purchase a new state of the art digital portable X-Ray machine at a cost of around $145,000.00.  The unit will be paid for with hospital sales tax funds.  Prior to making the X-Ray purchase, the sales tax fund has a balance of just over 2.9 million dollars.

Board members were briefed by Keith Wright on plans to further renovate and improve hospital facilities. The work is planned for the western portion of the hospital and some outdoor improvements on the west side of the building.  The board voted to authorize CEO Rex Jones to work with the architect to prepare the project for bids.

Dr. Wharton made a motion to reappoint Vernon McClain, LPN for Dr. Scott Claycomb, for hospital privileges through May,2017.  The motion was approved.

Tiffany Holland, Chief Nursing Officer, gave her report.  She updated the board on staffing, training and discussions with SAU Tech concerning LPN students for clinical rotations.

Mr. Jones gave his executive update.  He reported on hospital week, the chaplain program and in-house rehab.  He stated the Hospital Foundation donated $26,000.00 to help purchase some equipment and the Hospital Auxiliary donated funds for the purchase of a vein finder unit.

The board heard other reports on patient satisfaction and held an executive session.  No personnel  actions were taken.

No comments:

Post a Comment