Pain management to be offered at RCH
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During their regular monthly meeting, Monday, October 19 the Ringgold County Hospital trustees learned of a new service to be offered at the hospital.
Pain management services will soon be offered as part of outpatient clinic services at RCH. Pain management includes but is not limited to treatment for migraines, neck and back pain, fibromyalgia, neuropathy and cancer pain. Through an agreement with Midwest Integrated Pain Clinic, Brian Jacobs, CRNA will provide pain management as a clinic service while training Melissa Friedrich, currently employed with RCH. Friedrich will follow Jacobs to clinics where he provides services as part of her training and then will sit for pain management certification. Once certified, Friedrich will be the provider for pain management services available at RCH.
Missy Walter reported the financial picture for September noting gross revenue was $226,000 above budget coming in at $2.5 million. Fifty-nine inpatient days and forty-nine skilled care days accounted for the $168,000 over budget in patient revenue. Net patient revenue exceeded budget by $258,000 with a total of $1,909,290. 340B revenue contributed $40,000 for the month.
On the expense side salaries were under budget, while benefits continued over budget along with contract labor, lab and physical therapy. Other expenses were in line for the month, with the exception of supplies and drugs. Walter explained drug costs which included chemo and other high end pharmaceuticals contributed to the higher numbers, as well as more supplies needed due to higher surgery numbers in orthopedics and ophthalmology. The September bottom line showed a net gain of $67,745 while year-to-date still showed a loss of $387,000. Trends are expected to continue in a positive direction, according to Walter.
Gordon Winkler, hospital administrator, briefed the board on the payroll protection program forgiveness plan and moving forward on the new construction project. PPP forms are now available; however, recipients are still awaiting instructions and guidance on completing and submitting the forms.
A bid opening for the construction project was held on October 7, with bids required to be hand delivered or electronically time stamped by 2:00 pm. The hospital received three bids and awarded the bid to The Ball Team construction company out of Des Moines. The Ball Team offered the low bid of $1.724 million coming in under the architect contract estimate of $2.1-$2.4 million.
Owner/contractor agreements were forwarded to Davis Brown Law firm for review on October 15 and on Friday, October 23 a pre-construction meeting between architects, The Ball Team, project manager, Russ Smith and Winkler was held. Winkler noted items excluded from the bid were engineering controls to avoid two contractors for heating and ventilation proposals, as well as testing soil aggregates and concrete and steel testing.
