WARREN, Ark. (11/22/23) – The Bradley County Medical Center Board of Directors met Tuesday, Nov. 21 in the BCMC Conference Room for its monthly gathering with a multitude of items to cover including the budget for fiscal year 2024, election of officers, annual approvals, financial information, and updates from hospital executives.
The first order of business was to conduct annual meetings for the Bradley Medical Foundation, Bradley Medical Services, and Bradley Medical System. The minutes and bylaws for all three were approved while each retained Freddie Mobley as Chairman and Joe Don Greenwood as Vice Chairman/Treasurer while French Wynne III was nominated as Secretary for all three entities. Those positions for Mobley, Greenwood, and Wynne match their responsibilities on the hospital board, which was up for annual approval later in the meeting and passed.
Last month’s board minutes were approved after the adjournment of the annual meetings. Controller Matt Pace reported on the financials with $4,531,066 in gross patient revenue and a net operating revenue of $2,088,975. There was $134,923.81 in sales tax revenue for the month with a total balance of $4,093,847.17 in the sales tax fund. Pace also reported surgeries and home health visits were up in the previous month, while others remained steady.
BCMC CEO/CFO Leslie Huitt gave her executive update next and said while she was excited to see increased revenue, it wasn’t volume driven so there are still some revenue cycle issues to concentrate on. She then presented the budget for fiscal year 2024 and stated the numbers look better than last year’s because of closure of the obstetrics department. Huitt emphasized it was a heart-wrenching decision, but the right one. The board approved the budget and capital budget requests for the new year.
The new digital sign, purchased with USDA grant funds, at the corner of Church Street and Jolley Street was touched on by Huitt. It alerts people to the emergency room and will also be used for different messages to the community. BCMC will not go live with its new electronic medical records system Meditech on Dec. 1 as originally planned. No new date has been set yet, but the hospital needs to be 100% ready before the switch to Meditech is made. Huitt explained that next up on the agenda as part of the Delta Region Community Health Systems Development (DRCHSD) grant are practice management and revenue cycle assessments.
Huitt continued by announcing the BCMC Laboratory Department had a successful CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) inspection. She concluded her update by informing the board that the Senior Care Unit had an audit with Optum in hopes of becoming in network for UnitedHealthcare, which should increase volumes.
Chief Operating Officer Leeanna Williams gave a brief update on Meditech and Christmas activities planned for hospital employees. There is a plan in the works to have an open house at the BCMC Rural Health Clinic for the community.
The meeting moved on to annual approvals for the Conflict of Interest Policy, Code of Conduct Plan, Auxiliary Policy, BCMC Board Bylaws, Medical Staff Bylaws, Medical Staff Required Committees, and Home Health Bylaws. All were passed by the board with some brief discussion on updated blood transfusion guidelines in the Medical Staff Bylaws.
An update to the hospital’s COVID-19 policy was approved along with an Environment Services policy concerning the cleanup of blood spills. BCMC’s Nursing Policies and Procedures manual was up for annual approval and was also passed by the board of directors.
The board listened to an update on the Harry H. Stevens Nursing Scholarship and approved medical staff recommendations before going into executive session.
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