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The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors held their monthly meeting Tuesday evening in the hospital library. The report showed inpatient admissions were down slightly from budget while emergency room visits were way over budget for December, but outpatient registrations were down significantly from the budget. Deductions from revenue were up for the month creating a loss from operations of $109,719. The cash flow statement showed a decrease in cash of $125,302. The days in accounts receivable in December was 55, which is up from 53 in November. There were 61 acute care patients admitted with an average of 8.4 patients per day. In the Chief Nursing Officer report for the month of December, it was reported there were 932 emergency room visits with 68 transfers. The average turn around time in the ER was 123 minutes for the month. There were a total of 214 ambulance runs with 212 patients being assessed and 180 patients being transported, 22 surgery cases, 1,501 outpatient registrations, 372 Home Health visits, 8,221 lab tests, 935 radiological procedures, 161 CT scans, 33 MRI scans, 8 nuclear med scans, 1,987 cardiopulmonary procedures, 465 rehab treatments, 216 dialysis treatments and 298 clinical visits. The employee service awards banquet will be held this Friday at the Salem City Hall Auditorium. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor reported the hospital auxiliary has scheduled their fundraisers for the year. They include a Scrubs and Beyond fundraiser, two Masquerade Jewelry sales, a Books are Fun fundraiser and one Linen Sale fundraiser. The board was presented a flu update and to date, there have been 138 confirmed cases in Dent County while all of last year there was only a total of 141 cases. The hospital reviewed the patient satisfaction survey results for the months of October through December for the emergency room, in-patient services, and the rural health clinics. Results were outstanding in all areas. The board also reviewed the Call Light Report for the 4th quarter and the numbers were in line with the previous quarter. Pryor reported that an internal medical physician would be visiting the hospital next week from Maryland. Assistant Administrator Kasey Lucas reported the hospital attested on the MU Stage 2 Flexibility Rule and a reimbursement of $140,000 was requested. He also said the Medicaid Attestation was filed and the hospital requested reimbursement of $300,000, but was approved for just $210,000 that will be sent in March or April of this year. He said the database consolidation will be completed and will go live on March 13th. A.J. Seay was the only person to file for the District 2 seat as the signup period ended Tuesday and he will be sworn-in in April. The Montauk 5K run/walk will be held November 7th to benefit the Foundation program and they will meet in February to discuss a possible fundraising dinner to be held in conjunction with the run. The first health screening in 2015 will be held February 11th and 12th at the Salem Community Center @ The Armory and a new Community Health Needs Assessment will be created and distributed later this year. The board approved the active staff reappointments, courtesy staff reappointments, new courtesy staff appointments and the certified registered nursing anesthetists privileges after reviewing those in closed session prior to the regular meeting. The board approved the budgeted purchase of six security boxes for switches from Tiger Direct for $2,403, the purchase of a new refrigerator for dietary from Central Restaurant for $4,811 and the purchase of five air conditioner and heating units for patient rooms from Thermal Mechanics, inc. for $9,349 for the maintenance department. The board adopted the Conflict of Interest Policy for board members for the year. The SMDH ambulances have passed their licensure requirements as of January 13th and that is good for five years, and the hospital also has been approved as an EMS training entity to allow personnel to do training at the hospital. Kasey Lucas did report the International Classification of Diseases ICD-10 coding is to begin on October 1st that requires insurance coding to be very specific. The code was to be implemented last year, but was delayed. The meeting was then adjourned.

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