FMC Board of Trustees Meeting – May 2023

FALLON MEDICAL COMPLEX, Inc.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

MEMBERS PRESENT                                           ABSENT                              

Doug Varner, Board President                              David Kirschten, Board Member

Curt Arnell, Vice President                        

Evelyn Neary, Secretary

Alice Kay Schweigert, Board Member

Elaine Stanhope, Board Member

OTHERS PRESENT                      

David Espeland, CEO

Marjorie Losing, CFO

Marissa Skogen, Recorder

1. CALL TO ORDER

Doug called the meeting of the FMC Board of Trustees to order at 5:30 p.m. in the FMC Community Room. 

1. – There was no public input.

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

No additions or corrections to the April 5, 2023 board minutes as distributed.  Curt made a motion to approve the minutes. Ev seconded. All voted aye. Minutes stand approved as written.

1. MANAGER REPORTS

1. Community Clinic: Jessie Hastig, Clinic Manager, shared that she’s been in the clinic since October of 2021 and has been manager for about 6 months. She reported that she has 2 PRN nurses and 3 full-time nurses, but one of them is transferring to LTC in June. Jessie explained that she gave her resignation due to finding a position outside of the facility with more flexibility and that her last day will be June 2, 2023.
2. Business Office: Sarah Bartholomew, Business Office Manager, shared with the board that she has been manager since April 24, 2023. She has one full-time insurance clerk and one full-time admissions clerk that FMC is currently advertising for due to the current employee’s last day at FMC being May 12, 2023. Sarah explained that the business office checks in patients for the Clinic, DI, and for Lab; they deal with multiple types of insurance claims, billing statements, and questions on statements. She shared that her favorite part is dealing with the customers. Sarah and the Board of Trustees discussed some of her goals for the department and struggles in the department.
3. FINANCIALS

1. Update on A/R and Collections Processes: Katie DuCharme, Billing Specialist/Financial Analyst, updated the board as to the information found since the last board meeting. Katie presented the template draft letter requested by the board that is proposed to be mailed out to patients explaining the changes to our A/R and collections process. An alternative draft letter was also presented by Katie that offered a different option to how the process might be tweaked. In-depth discussion about the pros and cons of the two options occurred. Curt made a motion to approve the alternative letter. Elaine seconded. There were 5 ayes, 0 nays, and 1 abstained. The motion stood approved as written.

Margie went over the March financials with the Board of Trustees. March was a very slow month with 5 IP days and 0 Skilled Days. Gross Revenue for the month of March was $680,264 while the budgeted amount was $917,029. Net Operating Revenue was $597,782 while the budgeted amount was $938,874. Expenses for the month of March were $1,064,547 while the budgeted amount was $1,072,425. Margie reported that the Hospital Utilization Fee (HUF) outpatient and inpatient taxes was paid in March which accounts for some of the elevated expenses. April financials will be slightly inflated due to them including March’s county building expense reimbursement. Operating Loss was ($466,765) while the budgeted amount ($133,551). Net Loss was ($426,777) while the budgeted amount was ($98,824) (Enclosure).

• OLD BUSINESS

1. Tylyn Bova, NP Update: Tylyn is still having difficulty making a decision about where to go due to life circumstances. FMC is her first choice, but she has some interest in an Oregon facility. Further discussion arose in regards to a plan for staffing the clinic.

• Dr. LaPan Outreach Clinic: Dr. LaPan signed and returned an agreement to use FMC’s clinic to treat his patients. The contract will be through Sidney Health Center when he provides services at FMC once a month. He will start seeing patients this month.

• Trustee Appointment: The board discussed potential candidates to finish out Betty’s remaining term, which is about 30 months.  Board members agreed to contact the potential candidates and profide an update at the next board meeting.

• Corporate By-Laws Review: Discussion amongst the board occurred about any changes they could potentially want to make to the current by-laws. Our attorney had offered revisions that addressed issued brought up last fall. The board agreed to conduct the by-laws review in sections. Section 2, Dues was discussed in depth as to if there should be dues paid in order to be a member and how much those dues should be. Further discussion occurred about how the money could be used.
  
  
• NEW BUSINESS

1. Physician Dedicated Search Started: C.I. Health will start next week on the process of the dedicated search. The contract is for 7 months long because they are confident in their ability to find FMC a physician in that timeframe.

• Aviary Donation to Glendive VA: The company who maintained our birds has reduced their service area and is no longer coming into MT.  Since we could not identify any of our staff who might be willing to care for the birds, we asked neighboring facilities if they had an interest in acquiring them.  The Glendive VA is the only facility in eastern Montana who had an aviary; they agreed to accept our donation.

• Corporate Membership Applications: All Board of Trustees accepted the application.

• OTHER BUSINESS: Other business was conducted per the Boards approval. Alice Kay motioned to approve the recredentialing of Darry Espeland, DO, Edward Moellmer, MD, and Gina K. Manhart, FNP, as well as the waiver requirement for Dr. Chris Hallberg, MD, a traveling physician. Ev seconded. The board voted with a result of 5 ayes and 0 nays. (Enclosure)

1. CLOSED SESSION  

The Board adjourned their regular session having completed the agenda.

s\ Doug Varner, President

s\ Marissa Skogen, Recorder