Hospital talks incoming dentist, physical therapist, interim pharmacist
Melissa Memorial Hospital will be seeing several new faces this year. Incoming staff members were profiled by MMH CEO Trampas Hutches at the Jan. 8 meeting of the East Phillips County Hospital District Board, including a new dentist, physical therapist and pharmacist.
Sylvia Noteware, D.M.D., will start seeing patients at MMH in early April. She was hired Dec. 23 and formerly worked in Houston, Texas. Her career in dentistry spans more than 40 years and she has extensive experience in rural health care, having opened multiple clinics.
“She’s already asking all kinds of questions about how to get involved and making sure the clinic is all ready to go,” Hutches said.
MMH’s new physical therapist, Theresa Lopez-Scott, started Monday, Jan. 14, and will be replacing retiring therapist Leah Hoyer after the latter’s retirement Feb. 8.
Lopez-Scott received her bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the University of North Dakota in 1989. Most recently, she was clinical manager at The Point Sports Medicine and Rehab in Denver.
“A physical therapist has actually been harder to recruit for than any position we have,” Hutches said. “[Lopez-Scott] is very energetic, very ready to go and very ready to get out into the community and try new things.”
Kwei Leong also began as interim pharmacist Jan. 14, filling in for Amy Kleve, who is going on maternity leave. He graduated from the University of New Mexico’s College of Pharmacy in 1978. Formerly, he worked at pharmacies in Golden and Centennial.
Kleve spoke highly of Leong, whom she helped select as her replacement.
“He has lots of experience — he’s done retail and a little bit of hospital and even long-term care, so he has a little bit of everything under his belt,” she said. “He’s very personable, so I think everybody should like him very well.”
In his administrator update, Hutches also praised the federal government’s rollback of certain regulations that restricted the comingling of the hospital’s specialty and rural health clinics, and confirmed that the hospital was pursuing a USDA Rural Development grant for a new ambulance.
MMH to present successes at statewide opioid conference
Hutches also announced that the hospital will be presenting on its success in curbing opioid misuse at a Colorado Hospital Association opioid safety conference Jan. 24.
Over the past year, an aggressive hospitalwide effort to curb the overprescription of opioids has led to a sharp reduction in the number of patients receiving opioid drugs and the amounts prescribed to individual patients.
In spring 2018, a study at MMH revealed that 4 percent of patients were on over 90 morphine milligram equivalents. Consistent pain agreements were not followed and drug screenings were also not in place.
In response, Hutches started an initiative to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed and promote alternative methods of pain management. The hospital also launched a PR and marketing campaign, started participating in the statewide ALTO Project and requested the embedding of the prescription drug monitoring program in its EHR.
With the use of the alternatives, telemedicine and a culture change, close to 100 percent of patients now receive less than 90 MME, and 72 percent of patients in a new pain management program led by Dr. Kajsa Harris were tapered off of opioid drugs within six months.
The most recent quarterly patient satisfaction scores were also the highest year-to-date.
Hutches said other topics of discussion will include price transparency — the hospital now includes its chargemasters and other pricing information on its website — and its new MRI machine.
Permanent MRI machine arriving mid-February
MMH’s new MRI machine is slated to arrive in mid-February, Hutches said, after its delivery was delayed by the company due to maintenance needs.
The machine will replace the traveling machine that the hospital utilizes currently on Fridays and Saturdays and will offer residents a permanent place to access the state-of-the-art medical imaging service.
Tim Johnson will begin training to operate the machine at the beginning of February so it can be deployed as soon as it arrives.
November sees dip in income
MMH CFO Wes White presented the hospital’s financial report for November to the board at its Jan. 8 meeting, which was originally scheduled for late December but was postponed due to the holidays. The financials revealed a dip in income that was sharper than the already anticipated November slump.
The hospital saw a net loss of $233,669 in November, cutting year-to-date net income, now $376,869, by more than a third. Revenues were under budget by 1 percent, deductions were over budget 30 percent, and expenses were over budget 2 percent.
Utilization also fell behind October figures. November saw 34 inpatient days compared to 57 in October and 86 emergency department visits compared to 113.
One bright spot was a drop in accounts receivable, which fell to 61 days calculated from three-month and one-year average revenues — down eight and 14 days from November respectively.
“In terms of our balance sheet, we had a successful month in collecting receivables,” White said.
“It lessened the shock a little bit,” Hutches said. “We all knew it was going to be a slow month.”
White and Hutches both said December saw higher revenues and a higher level of utilization compared to November.
Auditing firm Dingus, Zarecor & Associates PLLC will also be visiting the hospital at the end of February. The board agreed to a three-year auditing contract with DZA in October.
Legacy event anticipates massive turnout
Hutches also reported that 41 tables had already been reserved for the MMH Foundation’s Feb. 9 “Southern Charm” Legacy Event at the time of the meeting.
“It’s been dramatically popular this year,” he said.
The event also received its first $5,000 corporate sponsorship from HealthOne on Jan. 8.
Over the course of its three-year campaign to raise funds for constructing additions to the hospital, the foundation was able to accumulate $145,017.15. The campaign started in 2016 and formally concluded Dec. 31.
Funds went toward building the ambulance bay, extra clinic space, the new door in lab and the residence building. Contributions were made not only by community members, but also hospital employees, who volunteered to have funds deducted from their paychecks.
MMHF also added Tina Looka to its board, following the departure of Linda Alberts, who served on the board for nine years.
Other business
In other business at the Jan. 8 meeting, the board:
— Heard an update on the Holyoke Community Childcare Initiative, which has hired a contractor and is pursuing grant funding through the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, in addition to local and national donors. The initiative is hoping to raise $500,000 locally and break ground in 2020.
— Heard an update on the Patient Family Advisory Council, which is continuing to gather data on noise and billing complaints from patients. Senior leadership continues to make rounds and check on patients to confirm that they understand their medication.
Additionally, the board accepted six new appointments, including Keith Whitcomb Volk, FNP, in cardiology; Chad Knaus, M.D., and Daniel LaPerriere, M.D., in family medicine; Daniel Long, M.D., in pathology; Jason David Hill, M.D., in teleneurology; and Christine Charles, M.D., in telepsychiatry.
There were four reappointments, including Doreen Pecar, CRNA, and Samuel Sims, CRNA, in anesthesiology; Jodi Olson Dearmont, FNP, in cardiology; and Archana Lucchesi, M.D., in radiology. Six-month provisional ends were granted to Derek Doorn, FNP, and Erin Hekmatpour, M.D., in family medicine.
There were also two resignations in radiology — Courtney Carter, M.D., and David Dalzell, M.D. — and eight in telepsychiatry — Muhammad Baig, M.D., Ergi Gumusaneli, M.D., Nasreen Mallik, M.D., Adeel Meraj, M.D., Shana Nguyen, M.D., William Regan, M.D., Mark Taylor, M.D., and Jeanie Thompson, M.D.