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Community Hospital Board of Directors Met April 17

Community Hospital board members met April 17 for their monthly board meeting. During the meeting, directors discussed the hospital’s support for Hillcrest Nursing Home in light of the financial crisis in reimbursement the nursing home currently faces.

Strategic Discussion and Board Education

Under Strategic Discussion and Board Education, the board discussed and announced its support for Hillcrest Nursing Home. With the recent crisis facing the facility due to shortfalls in State Medicaid reimbursement, the discussion covered three points:

  1. The community would economically be affected if the nursing home closed and its 160 employees lost their jobs.
  2. Community Hospital has already been affected as it becomes increasingly difficult to place Medicaid patients in Hillcrest and area nursing homes. The question was raised: “What if there are no nursing homes for our elderly because they have all closed?”
  3. McCook and area hospital patients (and their families) are affected as they seek a nursing home facility to reside that accepts Medicaid coverage. If they have no place to go, they may end up staying at home. That scenario could hinder quality of care. Patients may end up returning to the hospital often, which is even more costly.

Community Hospital’s new Vice President Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Officer, Molly Herzberg, was in attendance at the meeting and introduced to the board. Molly was formerly Community Hospital’s Director of Surgical Services for the last 12 years. She has worked at Community Hospital for the past 17 years, and has spent her entire career in rural healthcare.

Consent Agenda

Under the Consent Agenda, the board approved the Emergency Management Report and the Physical Environment/Environment of Care Report. The board also approved the Hospice and Home Health Annual Program Evaluation Manuals.

Minutes were approved from the March 12 regular meeting of the medical staff and the March 20 regular meeting of the board of directors.

Review of Activities

  • Jon Reiners, Director of Strategic Planning, educated the board on the strategic planning process timeline, which included Step II of the Voice of the Customer Map, Gap Analysis, and Determining Areas of Strategic Focus.
  • Thank you notes received by Community Hospital were reviewed.