Allen County Regional Hospital should come under the control of Saint Lukes Health System by April 1.
Thats the tentative start date announced by ACRH Board of Trustees Tuesday night. Hospital officials have agreed to lease the facility to Saint Lukes, but a transition from the current management system will take several months.
The hospital currently is owned and operated by the county, with a contract with Hospital Corporation of America to provide key management positions and various operations. That contract expires in June. Representatives from the board of trustees, HCA and Saint Lukes will need time to transfer various systems.
Some work already has begun behind the scenes, Larry Peterson, chief financial officer and interim CEO, said. Saint Lukes already has begun some IT work, setting up its own systems at ACRH.
But Phase I of the transition will be to find a new administrator, he said. Thats a priority he shares with Saint Lukes officials, Peterson said. It was not clear how long that process might take or how the search for a new administrator would be conducted.
Joint commission
Surveyors from The Joint Commission, a nationwide accreditation program, made an unannounced visit to ACRH last week as part of a three-year accreditation review.
The survey went well, Patty McGuffin, chief nursing operator, said. A few deficiencies were reported but those were minor and are expected to be resolved within 60 days (some must be resolved within 30 days).
Most issues were found in the home health and hospice department, which has undergone significant changes in the past two years or so after much of the staff retired and were replaced by a series of contracted healthcare workers. The department now is fully staffed with local employees. An interim director, who likely will be leaving before the end of the year, has reformed the department and patient numbers continue to increase.
But its taken time to get the department back up to standards, McGuffin said. Problems still include issues with documentation and reporting, and those will need to be resolved quickly to meet Joint Commission requirements.
Surveyors evaluated compliance with hospital standards related to several areas, including emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control, leadership and medication management. Surveyors conducted onsite observations and interviews.
The survey delivered an excellent report on ACRHs environment of care, which includes things like housekeeping, safety and security.
Financial update
The hospital continues to see fewer admitted patients, but more who visit on an outpatient basis for things like clinics and emergency room visits.
In-patient numbers have lagged for several months, and were 42% lower than expected in October. The average daily census was 5.5 patients, while administrators expected to have an average of 9.3.
But outpatient visits were 7% higher than expected, with 495 emergency room visits in October and 1,327 other outpatient visits.
The hospitals net income for October was $248,000 more than expected, and about $100,000 over budget year-to-date. But much of that was attributed to one-time adjustments from things like reimbursements from government programs.
