Finances, employee evaluations and contracts were the most prominent items on the agenda at the regular meeting of the Nacogdoches County Hospital District board of directors held Tuesday afternoon at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital.
The hospital reported a loss of $79,348 for the month of September, which was not considered bad news, according to Tim Hayward, Memorial Hospital CEO.
"Although I don't like losing money, I like the direction it's going," Hayward said. "There were some months where I was losing $1 million, so we're getting in much better shape and pulling out of the cycle."
Losses during the summer were reported at $700,000 for June, $363,000 for July and $72,000 for August.
"It costs me $250,000 a day, or $7 million a month, to run this hospital, whether I have 150 patients, or 50," he said. "If I have 150, I make money. If I have 50, I don't make money."
Human Resources Director Peggy Petty also presented the board with an annual report of competency assessments, employment statistics, recruitment and retention efforts regarding the employees at the hospital, based on their performance evaluations.
"Every employee received greater than 75 percent on their evaluation," Petty said. "That is a good standing, and we are pleased with that."
The hospital also renewed its contract with Milliman Care Guidelines, LLC for CareGuideQI, an inpatient screening criteria software.
"To admit a patient into the hospital, there has to be a criteria for the patient to meet," Hayward said. "Milliman takes the guidelines from Medicare, and we plug in what the patient is being admitted for, and they tell us what the patient has to have. It's really just a way for us to stay compliant with the Medicare guidelines."
Two new contracts were also discussed regarding the future employment of Ahammed Hashim and his wife, Binusha Moitheennazima, two new pulmonologist, or a specialist that deals with lung and the respiratory tract diseases.
"They are going to be an awesome couple of physicians for this community," Hayward said.
The meeting was pretty "standard," according to Hayward, noting that during the harder economic times, the items addressed are going to be very "cut and dry."
"It's all going to be pretty straight forward and exactly what we need to run the facility," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less."
