The Greene County Medical Center Board of Trustees met yesterday in regular session.

During the financial report, Chief Financial Officer Mark VanderLinden gave a report for the month of August.  Long Term Care had its second highest month in terms of volume, major surgeries and emergency room visits both had their highest months while physical therapy and inpatient minor surgeries had their lowest months for volumes.

For the month of August, the medical center’s operating revenues were at $1.78 million which was just over the budgeted amount of $1.75 million while operating expenses were at $2.03 million for August which was also over budget of less than $200,000.  The hospital lost $110,163 for the month of August.

Other financial numbers for August saw a decrease in patient days at the medical center from 97 in July to 82 last month, out-patient visits were also down from 2,186 in July to 2,064 in August and skilled days also dropped from 133 in July to 76 in August.

The Board approved to switch its insurance plan from full coverage with LMC Insurance to self-insured with a third-party administrator through UnityPoint Health Des Moines.

Chief Executive Officer Carl Behne reported that the expansion project is about 60 days behind their targeted schedule due to weather delays, but that they are still on target for their overall budget of $22.5 million for the project.

Dr. Jon Van Der Veer, vice-president of medical affairs, reported to the Board that the new hospitalist program is going well.  They have five physicians scheduled to work in September in the ER department and the same amount of doctors are scheduled for October.  He also reported that there hasn’t been as many emergency calls to fill since they’ve implemented this program and that five patients have used it for hospital services as well.

Next was the annual Auxiliary report to the Board by president Sharon Stoline.  She said that they are up to 167 members that also includes an increase of 12 new members this year.  She pointed out that they are recruiting younger members to keep the program going with their aging current members.  The Auxiliary also purchased $17,224.08 for new blanket warmers for the OB Department, an EKG machine for respiratory therapy department, a blood glucose laptop for the diabetes education department and a bilirubin testing machine for the OB and public health departments.  They also awarded $3,000 in scholarships this past year.