FHCHC works on saving money
John Griffin, The Emporia Gazette
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The Flint Hills Community Health Center Board of Directors unanimously approved a motion for renegotiation of a contract with Newman Regional Health that would have decreased discounts for patients referred by FHCHC.
Newman proposed a contract reducing FHCHC uninsured, low-income radiology referral discounts from 69 to 20 percent. Newman and FHCHC currently are not under any contract for radiology.
“It is my understanding we have an agreement with Newman,” said FHCHC Interim Executive Director Will Rodgers. “At the direction of our Board, we will be working with Newman towards an agreement on the radiology services. We have had a good working relationship with Newman.”
“They have always had an arrangement with us that they sent us all of their labs, the routine labs and radiologies and stuff like that for those same groups of patients,” said Newman Regional Health Chief Financial Officer Holly French.
FHCHC began using the services of Quest July 6, a reference lab that has the ability to interface with FHCHC’s computers for the center’s medical record keeping.
“We moved our laboratory services to Quest,” said Rodgers during Tuesday’s Board of Director’s meeting. “As a result of that we have taken some business away from Newman Regional.”
Because of the loss of volume of patients referred from FHCHC, Newman proposed a lower discount for the uninsured, low-income referrals.
“That discount we had with them recently was based on a volume discount.” said French. “We were getting a large volume and tests from procedures, so we were able to give them a much larger discount.”
French also said many of the FHCHC referrals are eligible for and receive indigent or charity care for Newman’s services.
FHCHC started using the Quest system because of the convenience of the service and lower costs compared to the system at Newman.
“It’s an electronic link that reports right back into our electronic medical record,” said Rodgers. “We couldn’t do it with the hospital’s current system; it would cost too much money. So, in order for us to move forward with use of our medical record, we had to do that.”
Using Quest has made FHCHC eligible for more federal incentives because of the movement towards “meaningful use.”
“It’s a process of using electronic medical record and using to certain standards that the federal government has set up,” said Rodgers.
Where using the reference lab has helped FHCHC become more eligible for the incentives, it has lowered the number of patients using Newman’s lab services.
“All that business was taken away basically,” said French. “The only thing we will really be doing for (FHCHC) is maybe a stat lab or lab that they need done quickly.”
According to French, the contract proposed to FHCHC was close to standard for contract services that Newman has with other facilities.
“That discount we moved it to was more consistent with other nursing homes and things like that that we have contracts with,” French said.
Rodgers stated the proposed contract would have had negative affects on FHCHC’s budget. FHCHC reported operating at a loss in Tuesday’s meeting of approximately $44,000 in June 2011. FHCHC has generated $60,465 of income in 2011.
“As far as the lab goes, we had to make a sound business decision with the best interest of our patients’ health in mind,” said Rodgers.
French was unaware of the approval to renegotiate the contract and had not discussed any further proposals.
Other items discussed at the meeting were:
F The Board of Directors approved new board member Maria Landeros, returning the Board to compliance. In order to be in compliance with the law, the FHCHC Board of Directors must include 51 percent patients.
“Because of some attrition on the Board, and a couple of members who weren’t attending regularly and were sort of dismissed from the board, we got out of our of compliance,” said Rodgers.
F Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Lynn Bridge was introduced as the FHCHC medical director during Tuesday’s meeting. She has been employed as a member of the FHCHC medical staff for eight years. She replaced Dr. Michael Mawdsley, who will remain on staff as a pediatrician.
F The FHCHC Public Environmental Health Committee will need to make adjustments. Cuts to the Local Environmental Protection Plan grant that is channeled through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Kansas Water Plan will force the FHCHC committee to look for alternate funding.
F Overall, patients are satisfied with the care they receive from FHCHC. Survey results performed by the KDHE were shared in Tuesday’s meeting. FHCHC submits surveys and the KDHE provides the feedback. FHCHC was above average for Kansas in most categories.
“I was very pleased with the kind of responses we got,” said Rodgers. “You always get negative responses. Even the negatives are good ways for us to learn about our patients’ perceptions.”
cyberspace (anonymous) says...
I have several questions about the content of this article.
#1: Can someone explain how a Nurse Practitioner can be the Medical Director of a federally funded facility that employs and pays two physicians? Why is this necessary? This seems odd.
#2 How can a facility that has only made an average of approx. $8,500 a month sustain itself? Is this a long-term problem or something the center is just now experiencing?
#3 How much federal money does the center get and do they have to be accountable and transparent to the public because they get taxpayer money?
It would seem that since taxpayer money is received to run this facility, the public would be more interested in what is happening.
July 29, 2011 at 9:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )