Bradley County Medical Center board received a “clean” audit report for the Oct. 1, 2021-Sept. 30, 2022 fiscal year, during its monthly board meeting Thursday.
A Zoom conference call was held with Nathan McCarthy and Wes Thew of WIPFLI LLP, an accounting firm.
Top photo: Bradley County Medical Center board members participated in a Zoom conference Thursday to discuss the annual audit. The video equipment was purchased by the Hospital Auxiliary. Conference tables and chairs were purchased by the Health and Medical Foundation. Photo by Tim Kessler.
By Tim Kessler
Saline River Chronicle Freelance Contributor
McCarthy said six adjustments were made to the report with five of them proposed by the hospital.
The hospital showed a steady flow in total assets which have averaged about $25 million each year for the past three years.
“Bradley County is keeping a very strong balance sheet,” McCarthy said. “Patient service revenue has been very consistent.” However, he noted that operating expenses had increased $1.6 million over the previous year.
Thew commented that a lot of hospitals have been upgrading their master plans. BCMC recently released a master plan which called for extensive infrastructure improvements or the possibility of building a new hospital.
CEO Leslie Huitt commented that the hospital’s income statement was not the best indicator of its condition because of its critical access hospital designation. Because of that, changes in cost report reimbursement through Medicare and Medicaid could change the overall financial picture.
McCarthy did note that BCMC is on the high end of age of other hospitals in the state.
Huitt added that, “We did see an overall financial improvement,” with expenses about $500,000 less than at the same point last year.
A motion to approve the audit was approved.
In other action:
- Chief Nursing Officer Jamie Wolfe said staff members are continuing education. Some of the courses that nurses have been sent to have been paid for by grants. He and emergency room manager Cheryl Wells have attended stroke training.
Wolfe said five patients were treated for COVID-19 in March and 12 in April. He said those were mostly mild cases. He also said the Employee of the Month program had been a great success with the help of Compliance Officer Leeanna Williams.
- County sales tax figures showed $118,000 received in February and $116,000 in March for a total balance of about $3.8 million. Payments were approved last month from the fund of $40,060 for an Omnicell interface and $43,811 for computer server upgrades, if needed.
- Policy approvals were given for ebola safe handling of human remains, ebola triage of patients, interim guidance for environmental infection control and two MRI safety policies.
- Marilyn Johnson submitted a report in which she noted she was resigning as chief administrative officer. She had also held the title of vice president of support systems.
- After executive session, the board voted to approve medical staff recommendations, engage a consulting firm to help with the Meditech implementation, and adjust CRNA pay to market value.