Gundersen Clinic, quality excellence in care are main topics of discussion at VMH Board of Trustees meeting

The Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) Board of Trustees met Tuesday, Jan. 25, discussing a number of items in addition to conducting typical first meeting of the new year business, including election of officers. Dennis Lyons will serve as board chairperson; Dave Stangeland as vice-chairperson; and Patty Fosaaen will serve as board secretary. Dr. Larry Barthell was also appointed as VMH Chief of Staff.

GUNDERSEN CLINIC
VMH Administrator Mike Myers provided an update to the Board of Trustees on the status of the Gundersen-Lutheran Clinic project. "Bids have been let out, and it looks like, when all is said and done, the amount that Gundersen will pay back appears to be about $1.4 million," Myers said. "It looks like their time table is to have it begin turning over to Gundersen September 1 of this year."
Myers said the contractors are in the process of completing the footings and foundation, and figures work on erecting the structure will begin as spring approaches.
In the meantime, Myers reported that the recruiting process for physicians to staff the clinic also continues. "It takes a while to find the right fit for the community," Myers commented.
Myers reported that the budget for the upcoming fiscal year was a prominent topic of discussion at the board meeting, with capital expenditures being foremost on the facility's list of budgetary priorities. "Basically, we're going to focus on being able to put patients back on third floor (with Gundersen Clinic slated to move from third floor to its new facility), so we're going to need to buy beds, bedside tables, etc.," Myers said. "There will be some remodeling needs in the adjoining area between the hospital and new clinic that will be jointly used as conference rooms and by Gundersen for its distance education needs. And within this whole process, we're focusing on an overall plan to best utilize the space we have, trying to figure what services would best be offered where based on space needs and accessibility."

DECEMBER FINANCES
The combination of a decrease in acute days, deliveries and surgeries countered by increases in skilled days and outpatient services, particularly in outpatient therapy, resulted in a profitable month of December for VMH to the tune of more than $77,000. The balance between the decreasing inpatient revenue and increasing outpatient revenue skewed more toward the outpatient increase, as gross patient revenue for December turned out to be over one million dollars, nearly four percent higher than what had been budgeted for by the hospital. Although facility expenses were 1.6% higher than what had been anticipated during the month of December, the higher revenue realized by VMH nearly tripled the anticipated bottom line for the month.
"Between having a slight increase in outpatient services and some pretty strong budgetary control, we were able to generate a profit of $77,440," Myers finalized.
For the current fiscal year, , both gross patient revenue and total operating revenue lag slightly behind what had been anticipated for the first half of the timeframe. However, a nearly two percent decrease in expenses for the same timeframe, compared to what had been budgeted for, has pushed the VMH bottom line nearly $20,000 past where the facility anticipated it would be at this point, the hospital realizing a profit of $190,430 at this point in time. "That pushes us up over our goal of a four-percent profit margin for the fiscal year," Myers commented.

QUALITY EXCELLENCE
The pursuit of excellence in quality care is still a main focus for Veterans Memorial Hospital, and Myers commented on a report from a feedback results comparison from the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence (IRPE), an organization the hospital has been working with to monitor its progress in pursuit of the coveted Malcolm Baldridge Award for Excellence.
"We're still working on the Malcolm Baldridge criteria, working with the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence to help us gauge where we're at in our pursuit of quality excellence," Myers said. "We showed improvement within three of the seven criteria sections, so overall we are making progress."
Myers pointed out that VMH showed improvement in such areas as patient, other customer and healthcare market knowledge; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; information and knowledge management; staff learning and motivation; and staff well-being and satisfaction. In fact, that last category proved to result in the highest grade of all the categories VMH had been assessed in within the report.
The report further breaks down the hospital's strengths and opportunities for improvement in the 19 different areas evaluated by IRPE. From that information, Myers said he and his staff will develop a framework for strategic planning that will help the hospital further its continued pursuit of excellence.
"We have reworked our mission and vision statements to more accurately reflect our work towards the Baldridge criteria, and our employees have had input into that," Myers said. "We have two people trained as examiners within the Baldridge criteria, and we'll be training a couple more. And alot of this is not being done with organizational money, it's been grant dollars. So, we've been taking that money and finding out a lot more about ourselves as an organization and what we need to do to meet some pretty stringent criteria for the Baldridge Award."
Myers pointed out that VMH has been recognized as the first small, independent hospital in the state of Iowa to take on the challenge of meeting the Baldridge criteria. He says other hospitals have since joined the pursuit. "It's not something that happens overnight," he said, adding that he feels it may be as many as seven years before VMH realizes the fruits of its labors in this regard. "Considering the amount of work, effort and time it takes to comply with something like this, I think it reflects pretty well that people here really do care about being recognized as a quality care provider."
In one final note, Myers said the hospital is anticipating being evaluated for recertification as a Critical Access hospital in the near future. "We're in the process of preparing for that," he said. Myers also reported that, beginning with the next few board meetings, financial information on all Critical Access hospitals from across the state will be disseminated for comparison purposes, another tool for VMH to help evaluate itself on a broader scale.