Melissa Memorial chosen to showcase athenahealth systems

    Melissa Memorial Hospital has been selected as a showcase hospital by athenahealth and will be toured by staff from other medical centers in the region, MMH CEO Trampas Hutches announced at the East Phillips County Hospital District’s Aug. 28 board meeting.
    The hospital was chosen to showcase the company’s products because of its high performance and successes with things like the conversion of the electronic medical record system that took place last September.
    MMH has already received visitors from Lincoln County Hospital in Hugo. Representatives from Burlington are also planning a visit in the near future.
    Hutches later said the hospital uses several athenahealth services, including revenue cycle management, medical billing, electronic health records, Sage Intacct Financial System, Jumpstock Materials Management Program, and Omnicell Medication Dispensing System.
    Hospital employees will show all of these systems to visitors, give tips about implementation and the management of change, and help tell the story of the project to the medical center staff that visit MMH.
    Patient/family council reports
    Hutches updated the board on the status of the Patient & Family Advisory Council, which he said has selected all of its members.
    The council consists of hospital employees, community members, patients and members of the board. It is taking over some of the functions of other bodies, including the grievance and quality committees. Hutches will be the council chair.
    “It’s going to be an organized way of giving the consumer a voice to improve care,” Hutches said.
    Community members were invited to participate in the council after the controversial departure of Dr. Aaron Wilson in March. Hutches later said that the council’s first formal meeting is being planned for September.
    
Surgery department reports
    Surgery department manager Sheri Knight briefed the board on the activities and staff of her department.
    MMH currently employs four surgeons:
    — Dr. James Schiefen handles general surgery, including appendectomies, hernia repairs, hemorrhoid repairs, gallbladder removal, breast biopsies, mastectomies and bowel resections.
    — Dr. Michael Hajek is MMH’s orthopedic surgeon, who handles various joint repairs, ACL repairs, knee scopes and trigger finger release surgery.
    — Dr. Randall Smith is a cataract surgeon who also performs laser vision correction.
    — Dr. James Yakel is a podiatrist who handles bunionectomies, small joint repairs, hammer toe surgery, skin grafts and amputations.
    Dr. Dennis Jelden and family nurse practitioner Lane Looka also assist with surgical procedures.
    The department has two full-time employees — Knight and Diana Bowker, head of central sterilization, and scope and scrub technician — as well as three part-time nurses and two per diem nurses.
    The department performed 66 surgeries this year through June, compared to 34 last year through June; 58 colonoscopies, compared to 81; 28 EGD procedures, compared to 23; 21 anesthetic injections both years; and nine PICC line placements, compared to four.
    Hutches said the department’s history of mitigating post-operational infections is a particular point of pride for the hospital. For the past several years, Hutches said, the department has seen no such infections.
    Knight said that one of the needs of the department is a larger sink in which to clean instruments and instrument trays. MMH CFO Wes White mentioned that, as additional service lines are added in the department, there will be a need for new, specialty instruments.
    White also reported that the hospital district was under-budget for its unaudited June and year-to-date income statements. The June statement reported a net loss of $486,806 compared to budgeted net income of $45,708. The year-to-date statement reported a net income of $15,234 compared to a budgeted net income of $256,655.
    
Survey results remain bright
    Hutches presented the results of July patient satisfaction surveys to the board. The surveys showed a very positive response to care and providers at MMH.
    About 52 percent of patients gave their provider a score of 10 out of 10, and an additional 41 percent gave them 8s or 9s. Also, 82 percent strongly agreed that the date and time of their appointment met their needs, and 75 percent strongly agreed that they would recommend the hospital to friends or family.
    Hutches also mentioned that billing issues are being moved under the jurisdiction of the grievance committee.
    
MMH ahead of curve for Hospital Transformation Program
    MMH is meeting its obligations under the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing’s new Colorado Hospital Transformation Program, Hutches said.
    The HTP is a five-year improvement plan that requires all hospitals to implement quality-based initiatives and hit certain outcome and community engagement benchmarks in order to receive supplemental payments.
    Existing MMH programs like the Hospital Quality Improvement Program and Medicare annual wellness visits are already satisfying quality and community engagement obligations.
    Although it’s still in development, the HTP will require these things to be done for Medicaid patients in the future.
    
Other business
    In other business Aug. 28, the board:
    — Held a 50-minute executive session for the purpose of determining positions for negotiations.
    — Heard from Holyoke High School FCCLA president  Kyra Loutensock, who volunteered her organization’s help with community service projects.
    — Approved sending the check for the hospital’s new ultrasound machine.
    — Heard an update on the Holyoke Community Childcare Initiative, which will be looking for architects and submitting an RFP.
    — Was informed of Tiffany Weber’s selection as the ninth member of the MMH Foundation board.
    The board also accepted three new appointments in telepsychiatry, including Stefani Parrisbaloqun, M.D., Grace Jackson, M.D. and Deniz Eker, M.D., as well as one new appointment in internal medicine, Rebecca Moore, M.D. They also accepted the reappointment of Susan Enlow, M.D., in radiology, and the resignations of Byron Barksdale, M.D., in pathology and Daniel Hoffman, M.D., in dermatology.