Retirement, new job assignments highlight RCH meeting
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by Brenda Grose
The retirement of a longtime physician, new job assignments and new hires, shortages in revenue reported with a bottom-line loss and new assets put in place highlighted the regular monthly Ringgold County Hospital board of trustees meeting, Monday, Sept 21.
Dr. Bruce Ricker, RCH chief of staff, announced his intention to retire before the end of the year, but no final date was specified. Ricker thanked the board, administration and co-workers who allowed him to “work and play” for 25 years. He will be retiring to Florida.
Regarding job changes, Amy Mobley will officially assume the position of Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), formerly held by Kathy Schuster. In new hires, Tiffany Boles will replace Mobley as Utilization Review, Quality Improvement and Case Management director and the Infection Prevention position will be filled by Sarah Musgrove. Recent Radiology Technician graduate Taylor Wilson completed her boards and will be assuming a position at the hospital in the Radiology department.
Missy Walter, CFO, gave the financial report noting several shortages for a rough couple of months at the start of the new fiscal year. Inpatient revenue fell short of budget by $45K, outpatient revenue was also short of budget by $92K with departments generating less revenue than anticipated as follows: surgery, scopes, nuclear medicine, mammography, vascular procedures, physical therapy and Senior Life Solutions. Senior Life Solutions recorded $141K short of budget due to the plan of adding a second track which has not yet been implemented. Primary and Specialty Clinics fell short of budget by $30K and 340B income was slashed nearly in half, bringing in $20K. Overall gross revenue came in under-budget by $169K at a total of $1.8M. Operating expenses were all mostly under-budget by $219K with a total operating expense figure of $1.9M. Bottom line showed a loss of $469K, which Walter noted is still below budget.
In other news, six new assets were put into place utilizing the last of the Covid 19 money received by the hospital. These included: a central cardiac monitor, new office chairs for the Mount Ayr Medical Clinic, three Lifepacks for ER, acute care and the surgery department and a stress test system for Cardiac Rehabilitation.
In his report to the board, CEO Joe Mangiameli stated, “there is a lot of work to be done on the operational side of things,” and added that he, Mobley and Walter will be looking at how to have “confrontational conversations that are meaningful.” Mangiameli continued to explain that as he looks at leaders he has “leadership expectations” and plans to give leaders tools for performance improvement.
On another topic of leadership, two employees were nationally recognized for service excellence. Erin Leonard, AARNP, was recognized as a provider of choice and Virginia Gruebel, from the physical therapy department, was recognized as an exceptional employee. This recognition came from peers at the Health Service Excellence Conference.
In new business for the board, the board approved the form and content of the real estate purchase agreement for Lot #2, set a public hearing for disposal of that property and approved a resolution for disposal of property, Lot #6.
