News

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for their regular meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library as board member Judy Thompson was not in attendance. In the summary of operations for the month of January, Chief Financial Officer Becky Cunningham reported in January that inpatient admissions were over budget as were the inpatient census days, but the outpatient registrations were down for the month. The hospital had a loss from operations of $247,332 with an excess of expenses over revenues after taxes of $15,937. According to Cunningham, there was an increase in salaries for the month with the changeover occurring at SMDH Family Medicine as there were more physicians on staff, plus there were a couple of large health insurance claims by employees. It was noted that the hospital keeps reducing their debt as the balance of capitalized lease obligations has been reduced to $29,017 from over $282,000 from last year. Even though the hospital showed a loss from operations, they did show a net increase in the cash account of $178,850 as the days in net accounts receivable is down to 53. In the Chief Nursing Officer report, assistant Mary Lou Brooks reported during the month there were 843 emergency room visits with an average turnaround time of 124 minutes. She said there were 66 acute care patients admitted in January and that came to 9.8 patients per day. Also in January, there were 227 ambulance runs with 225 patients being assessed and 184 people were transported. There were 14 surgery cases, 1,633 outpatient registrations, 313 home health visits, 8,504 lab tests, 1,017 radiological procedures, 178 CT scans, 29 MRI scans, nine nuclear med scans, 463 rehab treatments, 203 dialysis treatments and 305 clinical visits of which 51 were for cardiology. In the flu update, Chief Nursing Officer Carol Lacy said there were 57 confirmed flu cases in the month of January. There have now been a total of 168 confirmed cases in Dent County. Lacy also discussed the measles outbreak in California and Arizona, but there have not been any cases reported in Missouri. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor stated the Hospital Auxiliary had eight members at their February meeting and they discussed the upcoming fundraisers. Pryor reported that President Obama has presented a budget that calls for reinstating the Sequestration reductions, but reduce the money to Critical Access Hospitals to 100% from 101%. He also wants to see a major reduction in Medicare spending. Pryor said it looks as if this budget was dead on arrival, as Congress hasn’t passed a budget in a number of years. Pryor reported a family physician visited the hospital and they are currently doing background checks and references. Assistant Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas said the hospital is still waiting on the CPSI reimbursement money of about $140,000 and also the Medicaid attestation money of $210,000 which is expected in March or April. He reported the database consolidations for the clinics would be held on March 13^th and again on April 16^th. There were 378 people who attended SMDH Health Screening at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory. That was down about 50 from the February totals of the previous year. The consensus was the event was a success, but a few improvements could be made such as the addition of more chairs for those people waiting. Pryor did report the hospital would provide ambulances for the upcoming 100-Acre in the Wood Rally and there is no charge. That is standard procedure for the hospital for all non-for-profit events. The SMDH Foundation Fun Run at Montauk will be held November 7^th. The committee will be meeting this week. Lacy did report the hospital would be starting a new Community Health Needs Assessment this fall and it should be completed by June of 2016. The finance committee met of February 5^th and they approved the Market Assessment. The budget process will continue. The board then went into closed session.

The Dent County Cattlemen were planning to hold their legislative meeting on Thursday, February 19^th at the Ozark Natural and Cultural Resource Center in Salem. Due to the inclement weather conditions, the meeting has been cancelled. 

The City of Salem Board of Alderman and the City of Salem Utility Committee will hold a workshop, called by Alderwoman Molly Zettel, Chairman of the Utility Committee, on Thursday, February 19^th in the basement of the City Hall located at 202 North Washington beginning at 5:30 pm. The workshop will be for a presentation of a rate study by the Missouri Rural Water Association. The City of Salem Board of Alderman and City of Salem Utility Committee workshop is open to the public, 

The Phelps County Master Gardeners are hosting a Gardening Seminar, Growing Green-Learn-Plant-Harvert-sponsored by the Phelps County Master Gardeners and the Phelps County Extension Center on Saturday, March 21^st. The cost is $10 for either the morning session is from 9:00 am to noon or afternoon session is from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Classes will be held at the Havener Center-Missouri University of Science and Technology located at 1346 North Bishop Avenue in Rolla. Seating is limited, so register early. For more information, call (573) 458-6260.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Boys and Girls JV and Varsity Basketball games at Willow Springs today have been cancelled. No makeup date has been set.

Jamie Benn's first career hat trick led the Dallas Stars in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Patrik Berglund scored the only goal of the game for the Blues, who had a three-game winning streak broken. Brian Elliott allowed three goals on six shots before getting pulled early in the first period. Jake Allen stopped 15- of-16 the rest of the way. St. Louis hosts Boston on Friday night at 7:00 and you can hear the game on KSMO Radio.

The Missouri Tigers will be at Arkansas tonight in SEC play starting at 7:30 and you can hear the game on KSMO Radio. Missouri is 1-11 in the SEC and 7-17 on the year. They have lost 11 straight games.