Hospital Seeks Input
Ray Cooney – Editor
The Commercial Review
Part of Jay County Hospital’s mission is to improve the health of the community. And it’s seeking input on how it can best accomplish that goal.
Hospital CEO Dave Hyatt discussed the organization’s Community Health Needs Survey, which is now live on its web site.
Records show obesity, smoking, heart disease, diabetes and cancer to be some of the major health problems in the community.
The survey is designed for residents in Jay County and the surrounding area to evaluate the hospital on how well it deals with those issues and to identify other areas of concern.
The survey, accessible at http://www.jaycountyhospital.com, includes 14 statements that respondents are asked to rate from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Those include:
•In my community, preventative health services are readily available.
•Jay County Hospital provides quality emergency room care.
•Jay County Hospital understands the needs of the community.
There are also seven fill-in-the-blank questions, including “If you had the power to make a change, what one change would you make to Jay County Hospital?”
Hyatt also mentioned drug abuse as a key issues for Jay County and told the board about a recent meeting the hospital hosted that involved local law enforcement agencies, health service providers and others. They discussed the drug abuse issue and how such organizations can work together to help make sure services are being utilized.
The meeting stemmed from Pastor Randy Davis’ work with “A Better Life … Brianna’s Hope”, an organization he created last year to help those with drug abuse issues.
Hospital attorney John Coldren noted that there could be an even greater need for such support services if a bill being considered by the Indiana General Assembly is passed.
House Bill 1006 includes a provision that would not allow courts to commit those convicted of Level 6 felonies to the Indiana Department of Correction. Instead, those convicted of such offenses, which often include drug-related charges, would be housed at the county level.
Don Michael, the hospital’s chief financial officer, reported that revenue for January came in more than $400,000 under budget. That left the facility with an net loss for the month of $291,958.
He noted that the shortfall came mostly because of low patient numbers for the month, with 60 admissions, for a total of 376 patient days and 844 emergency room visits.
The board also approved a $9,210 contract from Skybox Systems for Digital Dining, software that will allow the hospital’s cafeteria to accept credit and debit cards.
In other business, board members David Littler, Bill Hinkle, Debbie Kummer, Roger Locker, Patrick Miller and Janet Bantz, absent Brad DeRome:
•Heard from chief of staff Dr. Mark Haggenjos that Dr. Kevin Schreiber has been named the hospital’s new ER director. Also appointed or reappointed to positions were Dr. Donald Nidell and Dr. Monte Zarlingo as courtesy staff for teleradiology, Dr. Stephen Morse as courtesy staff for emergency medicine and Dr. David Brown for outpatient privileges.
•Approved entering into a five-year service agreement with First Data Bank, which provides monthly reports to the hospital, at a cost of $103,000 and a one-year service agreement with Ortho Clinicla for $31,400.
•OK’d payment of Indiana Hospital Association dues for 2015 for a total of $11,560.
•Approved contracting with Alliant Management Services for an organizational benchmarking report at a cost not to exceed $15,000 and Blue and Company to prepare the disproportionate share survey for fiscal year 2014 at a cost not to exceed $20,000.
•Heard from auxiliary director Rose Snow that 75 volunteers worked a total of 1,008 hours in January.
•Paid claims totaling $1.9 million.