The June 2022 Box Butte General Hospital Board Meeting was called to order at 12:04 p.m. Monday, June 27. The topics of discussion included the COVID vaccine recommendations for children, violence in the (healthcare) workplace, approval request for the 2022- 23 fiscal year budget, and new services and providers arriving at BBGH soon.
Employee recognitions were also acknowledged. Medical Records Manager Julie Sheldon received her Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) certification, Staff Nurses Trevor Ridenour and Caitlen Grimes both received their Registered Nurse certifications; and new employees introduced included Jordan Colwell as Interim CFO, Aaliyah Hill as a Cardiac Rehab Tech, Brian Barragan as a Materials Management Specialist, Zach Clemens as a Staff Nurse, Kristen Romick as a Nurse Aide/Ward Clerk, and Dalton Krug as a Patient Registration Clerk.
After the Consent Calendar was approved, the Quality & Safety report was presented by Mary Mockerman, BBGH Chief Quality Officer. She noted BBGH is working with Panhandle Public Health District on how to approach & coordinate COVID vaccines for six-month-old to four-year-old children.
Violence in the workplace was also discussed. Since January 2022, only 10 occurrences have been reported, with more cases assumed to have gone unreported most-likely because there are various ways to report in the system. BBGH is working to add a new category specifically for violence to simplify the process. The most common reported abuse experienced by healthcare workers at BBGH is verbal aggression (phone calls, patient/visitor-to-staff, staff-to-staff, bullying, etc.). In the near future, HSS (Healthcare & High-Risk Security Services) will be working with BBGH to lead an active shooting drill.
Following a Trustee budget workshop held on June 20, the proposed budget of $92 million in gross revenue was approved as presented. The budget anticipates normal operations factoring in expected inflation increases. BBGH CFO Mike O’Dell said, “BBGH should expect a profitable fiscal year with a decreased budget projected. The big picture: inflation is increasing faster than revenue is, but money lost to inflation will likely be offset by remaining COVID funds.” The hospital’s fiscal year began July 1, 2022.
More new and exciting things are currently in the works at BBGH. One of those additions is an updated Electronic Health Record System called MEDITECH. Currently, BBGH is still in the planning stages and working with vendors to interface the system. Trainings are taking place for employees and contractors, and the back end of the software is in the building/customizing stage. Testing will begin in late August, with the system being functional in November. MEDITECH will streamline the whole financial process and make it easier to use for both BBGH staff and customers alike.
Other exciting additions from the budget include adding a full-time psychiatric nurse practitioner to the lineup of providers at Greater Nebraska Medical and Surgical Services team, an additional Physician Assistant to the Hospitalist and ER teams, welcoming Ophthalmology services to BBGH, and expanding Physical Therapy services in Hemingford.
New Business included approval of the coming year’s medical executive committee officers. After all credentialing was approved, the meeting was adjourned at 12:57 p.m. with no reason for executive session.