Your World Today – Wednesday, June 17, 2015
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NEWS Wednesday, June 17th, 2015
The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for their regular meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library. In the summary of operations for the month of May, Chief Financial Officer Becky Cunningham reported that inpatient admissions were over budget for the month, but inpatient census days were way down as well as outpatient registrations. Even the emergency room visits were below budget. The hospital had a loss from operations of $214,866 for the month and had an excess of expenses over revenues after taxes of over $209,000. For the first 11 months of the fiscal year, Cunningham reported the hospital had a loss from operations of $1,159,930 with an excess of expenses over revenues of $662,825. For May, she said payroll was high with the inclusion of Dr. Punzalan and his staff during the month plus some payouts to the PEO. Even though expenses were kept in line, there was a reduction of cash during the month of $435,399. Even though Medicare did make a large payment on the back claims, the secondary payers such as Medicaid and private insurance companies still have not made payments on those claims. That money should come in during the month of June. Chief Nursing Officer Carol Lacy reported during the month there were 813 emergency room visits with an average turnaround time of 124 minutes. She said there were 66 acute care patients; 238 ambulance runs with 242 patients being assessed; 21 surgery cases, 1,517 outpatient registrations, 203 home health visits, 9,722 lab tests, 928 radiological procedures, 226 CT scans, 14 MRI scans, no nuclear med scans as the machine was not functional most of the month, 394 rehab treatments, 178 dialysis treatments and 310 clinical visits of which 151 were for podiatry. Hospital Administrator Dennis Pryor reported the hospital auxiliary will not meet again until September and recognized board member Dennis Fiebelman on being selected to receive the MHA Excellence in Governance Award. He will receive the award at the MHA Leadership Forum on Thursday. Pryor reported that a family practitioner contacted the Salem Hospital with an interest in coming to the hospital. He will not be able to visit until August or September. Assistant Administrator Kasey Lucas stated the state has still not paid the $210,000 for the Medicaid Attestation that has been approved. He and Administrator Pryor feel that won't be paid until July which is in the next fiscal year for the state. Lucas also said the hospital would go live with the MEDHOST upgrade in October or November. MEDHOST will be at the hospital for training on June 24th. Lucas also reported the Ozark Independent Health Alliance will have a July 1st Telestroke kick-off meeting using their Telehealth facilities. The board approved the fiscal year 2016 budget that showed about a 4% increase in services and also included a salary increase of 3%, a retirement plan and supply costs increase of 4% and a 9% increase in the cost of drugs. Also the minimum wage at the hospital will be increased to $8.25 with incremental bumps to those on the hourly wage. The hospital expects to see revenues of $40,852,950 with net operating revenue of $20,097,096. The budget shows the hospital with an expected gain from operations of $182,694 with an excess of revenues over expenses of $677,684. The board then approved a motion to complete the construction of the renovation of Physicians Office Building 3. Before going into closed session, Pryor announced that Becki Cunningham had resigned her position of Chief Financial Officer to take a controller job with Town and Country Bank. She has been the CFO for almost three years and her last day at the hospital will be July 10th. The board then went into closed session.
Front office officials of the St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly the target of an FBI and U.S. Justice Department investigation into a security breach of the Houston Astros' computer network. The New York Times on Tuesday cited law enforcement officials as saying investigators have evidence that Cardinals officials broke into a special database created by the Astros for internal discussions about trades, statistics and scouting reports. The St. Louis Cardinals are aware of the investigation and said in a statement Tuesday, "The team has fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so. Given that this is an ongoing federal investigation, it is not appropriate for us to comment further." According to the Times, Jeff Luhnow and the Cardinals built a computer system to house baseball operations department information. Once he left for the Astros, Luhnow created a similar network that, investigators say, Cardinals' officials were apparently able to access by employing passwords previously used by Luhnow.
SPORTS [TOP]
Michael Wacha pitched through one rain delay, but the second one ended his outing in the St. Louis Cardinals' 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins Tuesday. The tarp first came on the field after Wacha (9-2) allowed a run in the first inning. He settled in after that, but he was forced to exit during the second delay in the seventh and finished with two runs allowed on three hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings with five strikeouts. Matt Carpenter reached base three times for the Cards, and Mark Reynolds' two-run single in the third was the difference as St. Louis won both games in the first leg of a four-game home-and-home series with the Twins. The Cardinals will be in Minnesota tonight to face the Twins at 6:15 with the game starting at 7:00 followed by an afternoon contest Thursday starting at noon.
Chris Young became the first Royals pitcher to drive in three runs in a game since 1972 and worked seven innings of five-hit ball Tuesday night, leading Kansas City to a 7-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Young had a two-run single in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth for the Royals, who have won six of eight after a 2-9 skid. The Royals will play Milwaukee tonight at 7:10.
There will be a Girls Basketball Camp from June 22nd through the 24th at the Salem Upper Elementary Gym. Girls in Grades 5 through 8 will meet from 9:00 to 11 in the morning, while girls in grades 9 through 12 will meet from 11:00 in the morning until 1:00 in the afternoon. The price of the camp is $20 and all girls can sign up on the first day, June 22nd, at the Salem Upper Elementary Gym.
OBITUARIES [TOP]
Funeral services for David Thurman Givens of Salem, age 60, will be held Thursday at 12:00 (noon) at the James and Gahr Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be from 10:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Empire Cemetery in Gladden.
Memorial service for Dennis Lesley Schafer, age 61, will be held Friday at 11:00 at the Dent County Memorial Chapel. Visitation will be from 10:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Green Forest Cemetery.
Funeral services for Dee Ann Patton of Salem, age 58, will be held Friday at 1:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be from 10:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Pilgrims Rest Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Pilgrims Rest Cemetery.
Funeral services for Mildred Mounce of St. James, age 90, will be held Friday at 2:00 at the James and Gahr Mortuary in St. James. Visitation will be from 11:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Adams Cemetery.
Funeral services for Juanita A. Grogan of St. James, age 81, will be held Saturday at 11:00 at the James and Gahr Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be Friday from 6:00 to 8:00. Interment will be in the Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Funeral services for Bessie Caroline Grissom of St. Peters, age 94, will be held Saturday at 1:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be from 11:00 until service time. Interment will be in the New Hope Cemetery.
Funeral services for Debbie Lynn Dabbs Law Jones of Steelville, age 49, will be held Saturday at 1:00 at the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home in Steelville. Visitation will be from 11:00 until service time.
Funeral services for Catherine Stokes of Salem, age 81, will be held Monday at 1:00 at the Wilson Mortuary in Salem. Visitation will be from 11:00 until service time. Interment will be in the Cedar Grove Cemetery.
WEATHER [TOP]
FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL FRIDAY EVENING
Today and tonight..Cloudy with a 80% chance for showers and thunderstorms, high of 82, low of 67.
Thursday..Mostly cloudy with a 80% chance of thunderstorms, high of 80.
Thursday night..Cloudy with a 80% chance of thunderstorms. low of 66.
Friday..Mostly cloudy with an 80% chance for showers and thunderstorms, high of 80.
