EACC to become a wing of the hospital Oct. 1

CEO/CFO Gary Bostrom announced the official change of the East Adams Care Center from a long-term care facility into a wing of the hospital during the monthly meeting of the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 Board of Commissioners meeting on July 28.

Bostrom explained the EACC facility will be converted into hospital rooms as of Oct. 1. During the temporary closure for the conversion, all intermediate swing bed patients will be accepted through the hospital.

After the conversion, the facility will be comprised of 20 beds in private rooms for patients. The facility will be able to admit acute care patients, as well as inpatients.

Between the hospital and the EACC facility, the district can hold a maximum of 25 swing bed patients. The EACC facility will hold 20 licensed beds.

In the instance of reaching their maximum amount of patients, Bostrom explained they would initially have to turn patients away, but they will be added on a waiting list for the potential of being admitted into the facility at a later date.

The EACC facility currently has 18 patients.

EACC currently has 50 beds that are licensed, and Bostrom said they would continue to store the beds either for future use or to sell to another facility.

Dr. Marty Sackmann said the medical staff at East Adams Rural Healthcare sees the development of the EACC facility into a wing of the hospital as a positive addition. He explained it provides the medical staff with an opportunity to work with additional patients and continue to grow as doctors.

Sackmann mentioned he also believes the change is positive for the community as well. The addition of EACC allows the hospital district to make strides to continuing to improve the level of care within the facilities.

The primary reasoning for converting EACC into a wing of the hospital is because of the financial loss the facility had during the past year. The auditors who reviewed the financials of both the hospital and EACC advised they believed the hospital district would have broke even if the conversion had occurred earlier.

The conversion allows long-term care to continue to be provided in Ritzville and also provides increased financial stability.

In the course of a year, EACC lost $510,730.87. The facility recorded a loss of $94,000 in June, and Bostrom explained the facility is expected to continue to have a loss until the conversion.

While the total loss is drastic, the past months of operations at EACC have recorded losses under $100,000. This proved to be a significant improvement for the facility, but Bostrom explained it provided a large financial burden.

Patients currently at EACC are not expected to notice any changes, except they will now all have private rooms, Bostrom said. The staff members and the quality of care will continue without interruption, and all families have been notified of the upcoming conversion.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for the official announcement that Bostrom will continue as the CEO/CFO for the district for the upcoming year.

Bostrom recently signed a contract with the district to continue employment until Sept. 30, 2017.

Commissioner Stacey Plummer made a statement regarding the extension of Bostrom’s contract. Plummer stated she did not agree with the process taken to hire Bostrom for an additional year, but she does agree with the decision.

Plummer stated she believed all of the commissioners should have had an opportunity to be a part of the discussion and a public session regarding the situation should have occurred.

Plummer reiterated while she is happy Bostrom will continue with the district and she is happy with the work he has accomplished, she expressed disappointment in the process taken to continue his contract.

The hospital district meeting also provided an opportunity for updates regarding the ongoing construction at the facility. Bostrom said Phase C is now expecting to continue into mid or late October, with the possibility of extending to November.

Bostrom said there is an estimated $22,000 of construction contingency money remaining.

He noted Apollo Solutions Group has not spent any of their owner contingency money, which is estimated around $140,000. Bostrom said some of this money could be used to complete items taken out of the budget, such as landscaping.

In Phase C, Bostrom noted most of the area has now been demoed, and Leone and Keeble are confident they will remain on budget. Bostrom said there appear to be fewer complications in the final phase, and the contractors have not had to deal with rust issues like they had in the first phases of the project.

Bostrom informed the commissioners about a dentist who is currently looking to provide dental services for the patients at EACC and within the community. Bostrom explained Brenden Davis of Ellensburg is expected to begin providing dental services as early as October.

Davis will be in the EACC facility one day a week, and will rent space in the hospital on Wednesdays to see additional patients.

Bostrom provided a financial update for the district, reporting the district’s second consecutive month of being under budget by more than $200,000.

He attributed this to the remodel and the fact the district is not currently using the MRI, one of the large sources of income for the district. The MRI will be operational again after the completion of the construction at the hospital.

The Commissioners unanimously approved a tuition assistance policy for employees in the district who are interested in continuing their education within their professional careers.

The program is available for employees who have worked for the district for over a year without an disciplinary action, who work at least 20 hours a week, have completed prerequisites for the course, and have met or exceeded standards in their past two performance appraisals.

The Commissioners concluded the meeting by approving Resolution No. 16-10, approving Bostrom to pay construction expenses related to the capital project for EARH from the funded depreciation account.

The next meeting of the Hospital Board of Commissioners is Aug. 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the hospital conference room.