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The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for the regular meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library. In the summary of operations, Controller Becky Cunningham reported that February was a good month for the hospital with a gain from operations of $32,306 and an excess of revenues over expenses after taxes of  $54,198. Inpatient admissions and impatient census days were both above budget that helped drive inpatient income. For the year, the hospital is showing a loss from operations of $362,938 with an excess of revenues over expenses after tax revenues of $85,644. Cash decreased during February by $284,640 as days in accounts receivable climbed to 51 from 45 days in January. Director of Nursing Carol Lacy reported during the month there were 700 emergency room visits with an average turnaround time of 133 minutes. Also during the month, there were 170 ambulance runs with 185 patients being assessed, 18 surgery cases, 1,662 outpatient registrations, 124 home health visits, 10,677 lab tests that included the tests from the health screening, 1,046 radiological procedures that included bone density tests from the health screenings, 192 CT scans, 25 MRI scans, 31 nuclear med scans, 477 rehab treatments, 181 dialysis treatments and 290 clinical visits of which 57 were for cardiology. In the flu update, through the week of March 9^th, there were a total of 141 confirmed cases of flu at the hospital with an average of 7.1 cases per week. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor stated the Scrubs and Beyond Fundraiser scheduled for March 20^th has been cancelled, as the hospital auxiliary has not been able to meet yet in 2014 due to adverse weather. Pryor informed the board about possible legislation including President Obama’s 2015 budget that calls for the reduction of critical access hospital’s reimbursement from 101% to 100%, and with the 2% reduction still in place, the Salem Hospital would only be reimbursed 98%. The House and Senate still have to submit their proposed budget. He also said Senator Dan Brown has introduced legislation for Medical Malpractice Reform with Senate Bill 589 and the house has their own version. Assistant Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas indicated that CPSI’s Physician Documentation would go live at the end of April. He said a real test is coming with the changeover of diagnosis codes. The hospital currently uses ICD-9 which has around 13,000 codes and that is going to change to ICD-10 that has over 68,000 codes. Lucas said the two in-house coders have already completed their training ahead of schedule, the Director of Medical Records is currently in training, and physicians will start their training in May. At the February Health Screenings, a record of 446 participants attended with the next health screening set for May 7^th and 8^th. The Foundation Program Committee has almost completed the brochure and the next meeting will be held on March 25^th. The board approved the budgeted purchase of two Wyse Windows 7 laptop computers from PC Connection for $1,965. One will be a replacement for a clinic and the other will be a spare in case of emergencies. The board also approved the purchase of a shelving unit for dietary as recommended by the state surveyors for $3,715 from Capital Restaurant. Kasey Lucas said the first sharing of information on the Missouri Health Connection has started with demographic information only. The next phase will be immunization records followed by radiology. Lucas said more information about the Health Information Exchange would start coming out in April through ads and other literature. Administrator Pryor told the board the hospital policies and procedures are 100% updated and have been reviewed by department heads. The hospital board then went into closed session.

The Missouri Department of Transportation kicked off an enhanced statewide pothole repair initiative with two goals: patch potholes as quickly as possible and get information to the public on the variety of ways to contact MoDOT about a pothole problem. As part of the Pothole Patrol effort, MoDOT maintenance crews are committed to repairing a pothole with asphalt within 24 hours of it being reported. MoDOT reminds drivers they can report potholes in a variety of ways: Call MoDOT's Customer Service Center, available 24/7, at 1-888-275-6636; or by e-mail to comments@modot.mo.gov. Potholes form when temperatures warm up during the day, but continue to be cold at night.

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