News

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors held their regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library. Controller Becky Cunningham reported that the hospital had a good month in February with 83 inpatient admissions with 314 censes days. The gain from operations was $173,260 with an excess of revenues over expenses after taxes of $189,967. The balance sheet shows the cash balance at the end of February at just over $4 million dollars which is over $2.8 million dollars more than last year at this time bring the days with cash on hand from 48 in 2012 to 66 this year. The days in account receivables rose to 50 days from 44 last month and there were three CD’s renewed. There were 83 acute care patients admitted with an average of 10.1 patients per day. In the Director of Nursing report for the month of February, there were 790 emergency room visits with 39 transfers. The average turn around time in the ER was 125 minutes for the month. There were a total of 162 ambulance runs with 162 patients being assessed, 18 surgery cases, 1,737 outpatient registrations, 132 Home Health visits, 10,223 lab tests, 923 radiological procedures, 170 CT scans, 13 MRI scans, 18 nuclear med scans, 2,599 cardiopulmonary procedures, 501 rehab treatments, 187 dialysis treatments and 291 clinical visits. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor indicated that influenza is still in the area but looks to be slowing. In the legislative update, Pryor explained how the sequestration and the Affordable Care Act could affect over $3 million dollars that comes to the hospital. The board then approved a Medicaid Expansion Resolution that will be sent to the state legislature to let them know the impact of not passing the expansion of Medicaid benefits to more Missouri families. Pryor said that the lagoon construction has now been approved by the state and the hospital has their certificate, but the channels still need to covered up with dirt and that will be done once the area dries out. Assistant Administrator Kasey Lucas said that the hospital received an update from CPSI and they are working with the Critical Access Hospital software. Lucas said the hospital is reviewing the package to join Missouri Health Connect this year as there could be considerable cost savings as grant money to help pay for the installation may be available. Pryor was thrilled to report that the hospital received 473 Community Assessment Surveys back and that currently that committee is analyzing the data and prioritizing it. The board approved the budgeted purchase of two patient privacy curtains for surgery from Phoenix Textile for $1,990, the purchase of battery chargers and batteries for information systems and the clinics from SHI for $1,545, and purchased two cassette and image plates from FUJIFILM for radiology for $1,520. In non-budgeted items, the board approved the purchase of a used Stryker MX-PRO ambulance stretcher for EMS for $1,790 and approved the purchase of a new Stryker MX-PRO R3 for EMS for $6,148. Pryor discussed with the board the lease/purchase of a new ultrasound machine for radiology as Toshiba America currently had a special going on. The old ultrasound lease was coming due and the buyout was going to be $32,000 with an annual warranty maintenance cost of $12,000. The deal from Toshiba was to provide one probe replacement per year (a $5,000 savings per year) and there will be no warranty maintenance costs for three years. After discussing the savings and that the buyout of the Toshiba would just be $1.00, the board approved the lease/purchase at a cost of $124,825 plus interest at 1.95% from the Bank of Salem to be paid over 36 months for a total cost of $128,620. This purchase will probably be made before the next budget year. Pryor then discussed with the board the purchase of a new Avilla phone system as their old Nortel phone system is no longer being made while the software is being maintained by Centurylink. Right now, there is a special on the Avilla phone system through Fidelity and Centurylink that would end on March 31st. After a comparison of the bid by both companies, Pryor recommended going with Centurylink due to the local and priority service they provide to the hospital. The board approved the lease/purchase of the system for $87,700 plus interest at 1.95% from the Bank of Salem to be paid over 36 months for a total cost of $90,362. This work will probably not be done until June or July, and will be applied in the next budget year. The board then went into closed session.

Sports [TOP]

The Salem Tiger Baseball game with Mountain Grove scheduled for Thursday was postponed and will be rescheduled. The Salem Golf match in Mountain View Thursday was also postponed.

Dorian Green scored 26 points and eighth-seeded Colorado State is moving on to third round play of the NCAA Tournament after ousting ninth-seeded Missouri, 84-72, on Thursday. For the third straight season, Missouri (23-11) has not gotten past its first postseason game. Phil Pressey scored a team-high 20 points on 7-for-19 shooting and Alex Oriakhi came through with 16 points.

The St. Louis Blues will be on the road this weekend for games against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday at 8:30 and the Calgary Flames on Sunday at 6:30. The Blues are 16-11-2 on the year and those games can be heard on KSMO.

Allen Craig's RBI single in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in St. Louis' 3-2 victory over the New York Mets on Thursday. The Cardinals will play the Astros today at 12:05. KSMO will broadcast the Saturday and Sunday games against the Marlins and Mets, which are set for a 12:05 start time.

Obituaries   [TOP] 

Funeral services for Tommy King of Salem, age 89, will be Wednesday at 11:00 at the Dent County Memorial Chapel.  Visitation will be Wednesday from 10:00 until time of service.  Interment will be in the Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Weather   [TOP]