’s
December 23, 2016
The Pulse
Your regular check up on SCKMC activities Share your thoughts, story ideas, and comments by e-mail to claytonp@sckrmc.org.
New Unit Pushes Positive Budget
Mammography Earns Perfect Survey
It’s been more than a half-decade since the last time SCKMC ended the year in the black. The hospital was last profitable 2010, the final year prior to moving to the new facility. However, the medical center plans to see a positive bottom line for 2017. Chief Financial Officer Holly Harper presented the positive message during the December Board of Trustees meeting. “I’m showing a $2 million bottom line (for the 2017 budget). Sales tax revenue is expected to be quite high this year, as this is one of the years where we have the overlap of the onepercent while the one-half percent is still going. We use those for the bond payment, we don’t actually use those for operations but it is still counted on our income statement. If you back that off we are at a loss, but a very small loss compared to what we have done,” Harper said. Harper is projecting SCKMC to end 2017 at an operations loss of $290,683 plus projected sales tax revenue of $2,308,500, leaving a positive bottom line of $2,017,817. In addition to the sales tax funds, operational revenue is anticipated to increase in 2017, closing the gap from previous years and inching the facility closer to break even. The majority of the increase is related to the addition of a geriatric psychology unit. The unit is on schedule to open this January. “If everything goes as planned January 1, 2017 we will be in the geri-psych business and have a senior healthcare unit to start producing a new source of revenue for this hospital. I think it was one of the things that will be vital to stabilizing our financial situation here at the hospital,” said Virgil Watson, SCKMC’s CEO. The new unit will include 12 patient beds with management and staffing to be outsourced to Quality Health Care Inc. (QHC), a Wichita based, privately owned company. The unit is located in the former location of the family birthing center. OB services have been relocated within the hospital to an underutilized portion of the facility. On average it takes roughly 90 days for a senior health unit to reach what is considered standard capacity of 90% however QHC representatives believe that the ramp period could be significantly reduced as a result of already having a unit already established in Wellington. Harper has used a more conservative 70% utilization rate for the budget, which still contributes significantly to the planned $4.5 million increase in gross patient revenue for 2017. “I have already had a referral source call me asking when we are opening our doors because they have patients ready,” Harper said.
The medical center’s radiology department recently completed a mammography quality standards act (MQSA) survey with zero deficiencies. Congress enacted MQSA to ensure that all women have access to quality mammography for the detection of breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. The FDA enforces the accreditation and certification provisions of the Act through annual inspections of mammography facilities. FDA uses a state-of-the-art database, which tracks certification, inspections, and accreditation information, that allows it to assess facilities' compliance with MQSA. Katrenia Beane, SCKMC’s Lead Radiology Tech, praised her team for passing with flying colors. “Without this we would not be able to do mammography, but everything was in total compliance. Jennifer (Richardson, mammography tech) was very prepared this year and did an excellent job. All of her forms were in order and everything the inspector asked for was ready,” Beane said. To schedule your mammography call the SCKMC radiology department at (620) 441-5770.
Auxiliary Donates Equipment Purchases The annual SCKMC Auxiliary Christmas luncheon was held on Dec. 13th with close to 50 participants gathered together to celebrate another successful year. Traditionally during the luncheon the Auxiliary has presented the hospital with a final gift for the year based off the current needs of the various departments. This year Auxiliary President Rose Anstine announced that the group would be making several purchases. “The hospital sent us a little wish list, so what we have decided is we are going to give the specialty clinic a wrist blood pressure machine, which is $50. The birthing center is requesting three mattress pads. The pads come to $750. And respiratory therapy has requested a new EKG machine which is $3,199. We would like to give this check as a Christmas gift to the hospital for $4,000 to cover these items,” Anstine said. SCKMC Board Chairperson Carol Hearne attended the luncheon and thanked the members for their generosity. “There are not enough words to express the gratitude from the Board for everything that you ladies and gentlemen do for the hospital. You are the faces of the hospital. You are the ones people look to, see first, and when they need help you are the people they ask. Thank you, we appreciate you,” Hearne said.
Give the Gift of Health This holiday season consider a gift to the Medical Center. Your donation will benefit our community for decades to come. Giving to the hospital helps us continue to provide the best in medical care right here, close to home. We offer a number of approaches to support our programs. Gifting opportunities range from providing support to name a portion of the new facility, to providing funding that can assist in providing new equipment or sponsoring programs.
Call or visit us on-line and find out how you can share the gift of health.
We are 6401 Patterson Parkway, Arkansas City 6401 Patterson Parkway, Arkansas City
www.sckmc.org
(620) 442-2500