The Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (HRRMC) Board of Directors Tuesday approved revisions to its 2021 budget of more than $98,700,000 and slightly increased the mill levy for public funds required to balance the budget.
Lesley Fagerberg, Vice President of Fiscal Services said the 2020 valuation for assessment of the Salida Hospital District as certified by county assessors was $539,886,440 and is now $539,321,240, as recertified, and the board approved a millage adjustment from 1.864 mills to 1.870 mills tax on each dollar of the total valuation to meet all of the General Fund expenditures of the District during the 2021 budget year. The prior millage rate was 1.784 mills.
General Fund expenditures were revised from $1,006,398 to $1,008,546.
As announced last month, the 2021 budget will see some price increases as well as slightly higher taxes.
As AVV reported earlier, the 2021 budget reflects a six percent price increase for inpatient room charges, Fagerberg reported, except for the Family Birthing Center and Intensive Care, which will have no increases.
Ancillary service charges and their planned increases include a 15 percent hike for Operating Room and Endoscopy; 10 percent increase for the Emergency Department; six percent for the Imaging Service (except MRI/CT), Infusion, Patients Supplies/Implants and Cardiopulmonary; a four percent hike in MRI and CT; a four percent increase for Rehabilitation Services and two percent increase in Laboratory services.
In the prior budget presentation, Fagerberg said no price increases were budgeted for Internal Medicine, Oncology, Urology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Gynecology, Pain, ENT, Allergy, Cardiology and Orthopedic Clinics; The Salida, Buena Vista, Saguache and Custer County Centers as well as Pharmacy services will reflect no price increases.
In other action, outgoing Human Resources Vice President Barb Lutz reviewed the 2020 employee survey, which was conducted between Oct. 12 – 26. The 25-question survey compared engagement and satisfaction among employee groups against other critical access facilities and national statistics.
Overall in employee engagement, the survey appeared to place HRRMC a slight .08 percent lower than other critical access hospitals, ranking 4.04 on a five-point scale.
One positive factor in employee satisfaction, Lutz noted, was the hospital’s long-standing effort to recognize employee excellence with quarterly awards. “Staff recognition does go a long way,” Lutz commented.
Board Chair Debbie Farrell also outlined goals and improvements established during the recent assessment of CEO Bob Morasko’s job performance and strategic goals.
Many of the suggestions, she noted, were already priorities for Morasko and included such things as making improvements in telemedicine availability, offering more non-medical assistance to patients facing problems paying bills and issues including scheduling for tests; management succession procedures; security for the data-rich hospital IT systems; and doing extensive reviews of the existing building facilities and potential maintenance issues.
“Some big things have broken unexpectedly,” Debbie Farrell said. One unexpected repair is being addressed immediately by the board and management. It was discovered that pipes under the boiler in the hospital have been collapsing.
Facilities Manager David Colarelli reported the pipe situation as serious, with the steam boiler leaning to one side because PVC piping under the floor are collapsing due to the blow down of the boiler. It is considered best practice to use cast iron piping (not PVC) due to the 180-degree water running down the drains.
It is considered serious, Colarelli reported, since without the steam boiler the hospital would be unable to perform sterilization or provide humidity for the operating rooms, and surgery would have to cease until it’s corrected.
Olson Plumbing and Heating video-checked the lines and the amount of soil that has washed away. They plan to cut through the six-inch concrete floor and jackhammer pieces for removal, to install new piping, reroute the drain and install a new reinforced concrete floor and determine whether to jack up the floor to return the boiler to level.
The pipes collapsing could mean there would be no way to drain the boiler down, hence the high priority toward fixing the problem.
Preliminary cost estimates were pegged at about $35,700 for the work.
In other action, CEO Morasko reported HRRMC and Colorado Brain and Spine Institute have signed an agreement for a neurosurgeon to perform surgery at the hospital as well as offer clinic services at the Outpatient Pavilion beginning Jan. 22.
Morasko also reported negotiations continue with Peak G.I. in Colorado Springs to recruit a gastroenterologist to practice out of HRRMC and reside in Chaffee County. He also reported that construction on the new Rocky Mountain Eye Center on the HRRMC campus is progressing well and they still anticipate a February, 2021 completion date.
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