In the weeks following a major shakeup at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, the employees continue to work on solving problems regarding the hospital’s cash reserves, as well as maintaining patient care as their top priority.
On Feb. 7, three members of the MHSC board of trustees verbally resigned after a tense meeting with the Sweetwater County Commissioners involving the hospital’s fiscal action plan to reverse declining cash reserves. The commissioners then voted to remove two other board members, leaving two of the original seven on the board, then voted to reduce the board’s size to five members. After appointing a third member to the board, an emergency hospital board meeting was hosted to cancel an employee reduction planned to occur the next day and announce the departure of both the hospital’s CEO, Jerry Klein, and its legal counsel, George Lemich.
Irene Richardson, the hospital’s interim CEO, said in the days following those meetings, many of the employees were nervous of their future at MHSC.
“We had to calm some fears about what had happened,” Richardson said.
Through a number of meetings, Richardson explained to the employees the hospital would seek staff reductions as a last resort.
“We would always try to do other things as to reducing expenses and increasing productivity,” she said.
The short-term goal for MHSC now is to make sure the hospital doesn’t violate its bond covenants by having less than 75 days of operating cash on hand in reserves by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
The hospital can default on its revenue bonds by failing to make a payment, but the more pressing issue is the hospital’s reserves.
Richardson said at the end of January, the hospital had 91 days of cash on hand and is in the process of closing out February to see where the hospital stands.
Richardson said the staff have been supportive of ideas aimed to increase efficiency and reduce costs, saying a number of good recommendations have come from staff observations. Richardson said one area the administration is looking at saving costs is through the agreements the hospital has with outside agencies. Richardson said ending agreements in situations where work can be done internally will help the hospital finances, as well as hiring permanent staff to work in positions initially filled by outside agencies. Longer term, Richardson said the hospital seeks to reverse its negative financial outlook and budget the hospital closer to what a BBB- rated hospital should be budgeted at. Through that, she seeks a 2-3 percent operating margin for the hospital.
A number of changes will be implemented thought the annual budget process and won’t have a impact until after the 2017-2018 budget is approved and implemented.
While some capital expenditures will be frozen, Richardson said the hospital doesn’t want to cripple itself as a result and will look at its more emergent needs over spending that can be postponed.
While the hospital’s staff have focused on returning to a sense of normalcy, Richardson said their main focus continues to be on their patients.
While the staff seeks to improve efficiencies within departments, Richardson said they do not want to impact the care they provide to patients as a result.
“The hospital continues to provide care to the residents of Sweetwater County,” Richardson said. “We will be here now and in the future.”
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