Hospital board member Tom Spence
Each year, Cook County North Shore Hospital must decide how much funding to bring in through the countywide hospital levy. That time has rolled around again, and on July 22, 2010, the hospital board set the maximum amount it might collect next year. It could back down from that amount when it finalizes its new budget, however.
This year’s levy was $425,000, but the hospital is looking at a projected cash deficit of $357,000 next year if the levy were to stay at that amount.
Board member Howard Abrahamson noted that the hospital has been conservative through the years, investing quite a bit of money for capital expenses. “Cash is king,” however, St. Luke’s Hospital CEO John Strange said, so the invested funds won’t help pay operating expenses. North Shore Hospital has a contract with St. Luke’s for administrative services.
“Theproblem is,” said board member Tom Spence, “we have departments that are consistently operating on a deficit.” Sixty-one of the state’s 70 critical access hospitals have care centers, he said, and they’re all losing money.”
Those loses, Abrahamson said, are going right to caring for our own community members. He believes the community will probably want to continue to have a care center in the county.
The Care Center is averaging about 40-42 patients. The more residents they have, the more revenue the entire facility loses, Strange said.
Chemotherapy is a service that has been dropped in recent years. Some expensive capital improvements for things like proper ventilation to mix chemicals would be required in order to continue to serve chemotherapy patients. A community member has also requested dialysis services. This type of request comes in every five or six years, Administrator Diane Pearson said, and they could discuss with St. Luke’s the possibility of offering dialysis. St. Luke’s CEO John Strange said dialysis departments cause huge losses to hospitals.
To maintain a first-class facility, some necessary services may need to be funded by taxpayer dollars. “I think in some ways,” Spence continued, “the community has been spoiled by our reluctance to increase the levy.”
Accounting Clerk Kelly Swearingen pointed out that other upcoming tax increases include the new 1% county sales and use tax and a possible school referendum. A lot of people work at local gas stations and restaurants and can hardly afford to live here now, she said. They cannot continue to absorb increases in the cost of living.
Wage increases of 1.5% are being included in the new hospital budget being prepared right now.
To be on the safe side, the board approved a motion to set the levy at a possible high of $1.2 million – an increase of $775,000. This would result in an increase of $81 a year on a homesteaded property valued at $200,000.
Tom Spence (jokingly) wondered if board members could be impeached. He hoped people who are upset about the possible levy increase would bring their concerns to their legislators.
County Commissioner Jim Johnson said the National Association of Counties supports government funding of critical access hospitals. Some counties and hospitals operate under the same leadership, he said.
” “I enjoyed watching you struggle with the levy!” Johnson said.
Budget report
Controller Yvonne Gennrich told the board that rates will remain the same next year in order to bring the hospital’s charges more in line with those of other facilities. She said the hospital has been “aggressive” with their rates in previous years.
John Strange said that hospital charity care and bad debt is expected to increase as a trend toward high insurance deductibles continues. Ten-thousanddollar deductibles are becoming common, he said.
Board member Tom Spence noted that home health care losses have been increasing. Administrator Diane Pearson said that county funding for the program has remained the same for several years, and the hospital has been picking up more charity cases.
Obstetrical training
Dr. Sandy Stover reported that the hospital is seeking grants to fund continuing education for obstetrics. The hospital has a life size dummy called “Noel” that can actually give birth to a baby. It is programmed with nine scenarios that can be activated randomly so the staff won’t know what challenges they might be faced with ahead of time.
Various procedures that might need to be done during a real birth can be conducted on Noel. “Pretty much anything that can be done to a patient can be done to this model,” Stover said. Noel has a baby that stays in her abdomen permanently and one that can be birthed. The birthable baby can even change colors, turning blue, for instance, if it is in respiratory distress.
The staff underwent some training with the model that day. “Noel’s got her own room right now,” Stover said. She was excited about the model’s training potential. “She also has multiple replaceable parts and a warranty!” she said.
Stover said that since the staff works with only a few births each year, she would like to see them receive obstetrical training every other year even though it is required only every five years.
Tissue and organ donations
The board discussed the possibility of increasing awareness of the hospital’s capacity to facilitate tissue and organ donations even though it does not have surgical facilities. Tom Spence learned at a conference that donations have been made even from people who have died in their 90s.
Board member Kay Olson noted that Spence is now a state-certified board trustee, one of only nine in the state.
Clinic update
Bev Johnson of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic board reported that the clinic purchased about a dozen new exam tables and will donate their old ones to a facility in Kenya. The cost to ship them will be $2,000, and Bruce and Katie Dahlman have volunteered to deliver them to their destination in October. Bruce is an occasional physician with the clinic and Katie is a nurse, and they have been medical missionaries in Africa for many years.
The clinic continues to search for another physician and nurse practitioner to join the staff. Johnson said the last couple of doctors have been recruited through casual, personal contacts and asked that people spread the word about the needs.
New administrator hired
After interviewing with both the North Shore Hospital Board and St. Luke’s administrators, Kimber Wraalstad has accepted the hospital administrator position being vacated by Diane Pearson. She is coming from Rolla, North Dakota, a small community near the Canadian border, where she was administrator of a medical center and hospital.
Wraalstad will be an employee of St. Luke’s Hospital and will start August 23. An article introducing her to the community will be in the News-
Herald
after that time.
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