SUMMARY MINUTES
Budget Workshop: Public Guardianship Program IRC; IRMC; VNA
Indian River County Hospital District
May 21, 2018
TRUSTEES: Marybeth Cunningham ; Allen Jones; Ann Marie McCrystal; Tracey Zudans; Barbara Bodnar; Karen Deigl
EXCUSED: Dr. Michael Weiss
STAFF : Ann Marie Suriano; Jennifer Frederick; Kate Voss; Jennifer Peshke, Esq.
OTHER ATTENDEES: Morgan Libbey; Mike Swan; Warren Fuller; Chet Kaletkowski; Lundy Fields; Mary Macintosh; Kathy Orton; Steve Smith; Susan Strader ;
Vicki Soule
Convene Meeting- Marybeth Cunningham, Chairwoman-
Mrs. Cunningham convened the monthly chairman’s meeting of the IRCHD at 1:00 PM by welcoming those in attendance.
Funding Requests-
Public Guardianship Program of Indian River County- Mike Swan, President & Morgan Libbey, Executive Director-
Ms. Libbey provided a review of the Public Guardianship programs funding request for FY 2018-2019. The total funding request is $28,000, which is $8,000 more than the previous year. She explained that because of District funding in FY 2017-2018, the program was able to serve three additional wards. Further, they plan to expand the program to help assist two additional wards during this next fiscal year. As a historical review Ms. Libbey explained that the Public Guardianship program provides legal and professional guardianship services to community members who have been deemed incapable of caring for themselves due to health or mental illness issues. Through trained guardians and case workers appointed to each ward, an assessment is conducted and a care plan is created to meet each individual’s needs. There was further Trustee discussion concerning the program and Ms. Deigl recommended that they reach out to the Senior Resource Center for additional support concerning this program.
Indian River Medical Center- Warren Fuller, VP CFO
Mr. Fuller provided a review of Indian River Medical Center’s FY 2018-2019 funding request. The full request of $7,560,224 is inclusive of acute inpatient, psychiatric inpatient, outpatient services and the emergency department. The hospital is also requesting $1,682,520 for the Partners program, which brings the total funding request to $9,242,743, an increase of approximately $400,000 from the previous fiscal year. Mr. Fuller explained that the funding request for indigent care reimbursement is based on the FY 2017-2018 projected utilization for qualifying client inpatient acute days, inpatient psychiatric days, outpatient visits/revenues, and emergency room visits/revenues. This fiscal year budget reflects a 3% increase from the projected current fiscal year end and is 18% from actual FY 17-18 for the combined categories of service. Additionally, the 3% increase is due to higher reimbursement rates which were calculated with assistance from the District consultant Ken Conner. The 18% increase from FY 17-18 is a combination of volume and rate increases. In addition, there is a $152,950 reduction to the funding for the ED due to the patient co-pay program, which is scheduled to begin this upcoming fiscal year.
Mr. Fuller further reviewed the Partners in Women’s Health funding request. He explained that the request will ultimately be the amount recommended by a collaborative workgroup that will develop the District’s Partner’s program goals and financial place for the upcoming fiscal year. Their expectation will be that the Districts funding, plus Partners collections will be sufficient to cover the total cost. In addition, the funding request has increased by $357,520 from last fiscal year due to the following:
- Salary market adjustments;
- Adding a physican to help fill the community shortage in OB/GYN services; and
- Adding a Nurse Practitioner to provide prenatal services at the Gifford Health Center.
There was Trustee discussion concerning the request and the pending partnership with Cleveland Clinic. They discussed the fact that although it is yet to be determined at what level, Cleveland Clinic will be taking over the operations at the hospital and be responsible for the cost associated with treating the patients. This was discussed when they first approached IRMC about a partnership and she stated that they would not seek any additional funding from the District, over the current amount provided. However, since the deal is not complete and an agreement is not in place, the Trustees agreed that they must fund the hospital at its current level, to maintain the current standard of care. Only once an agreement is in place and a charity policy has been written, can they look at reducing or altering indigent care funding at the hospital, which may ultimately lead to a lower millage rate. There is currently an agreement for payment of indigent care in place between the District and IRMC which must be followed by both parties. There was also Trustee discussion concerning the reimbursement the District provides to the hospital for patients that come in through the ED and the hospitals requirements through EMTALA.
As a follow up to the request, the Trustee asked for Mr. Fuller to provide a response and supporting data concerning the following:
- Provide a breakdown of the ED patients and their payor source (i.e Medicaid, Indigent);
- Provide a breakdown of the charge for an outpatient services; and
- Provide a breakdown of the number of low acuity visits to ED.
VNA- Lundy Fields, CEO
Mr. Fields introduced the VNA staff that joined him for today’s presentation which included Kathy Orton, Vice President of Clinical Services; Mary MacIntosh, Interim CFO; Steve Smith, Director of Marketing and Communication; and Susan Strader, Nurse Practitioner on the Mobile Unit. Mr. Fields explained that he was recently hired as VNA’s new CEO.
He explained that for over 40 years the VNA has served the home health and hospice needs of thousands of patients and has built a high level of trust within the community. The Mobile Unit has been on the road for over 15 years and brings health and wellness services to the people in their communities. Mr. Field shared his perspective on how the VNA sees leadership within the organization and its future goals. He reviewed the funding request concerning home health and hospice needs, along with the Mobile Healthcare on Wheels program. The VNA projects that maintaining the current funding structure would result in a need for $382,000 in funding for the 2018-2019 FY. The District also asked the VNA to project how much funding would be required to cover the incremental indigents that would be added if indigent eligibility criteria were raised to 200% of the Federal Poverty level. He explained that changing the eligibility criteria would increase the program funding from $340,000 to $724,000. The third funding level option would be to move forward with expanded indigent criteria and funding a strategic community health wellness initiative that will include the Mobile Healthcare on Wheels program.
Mr. Fields stated the first step of developing goals and objectives for the community has already been accomplished by the work of the District, in conjunction with others key leaders in the community. As a result of all this work completed over the past several years, leaders know what the specific health goals, objectives and needs are for Indian River County. The VNA’s plan is to launch a community-wide health education and patient care initiative localized by zip code areas within Indian River County. He explained that the first key initiative is to focus a dedicated VNA team responsible for overall campaign execution. The second is to create a yearlong health & wellness calendar, and the marketing plan to support the calendar. He provided a sample of what the proposed calendar would look like for the Trustees review. The next key initiative involves the mobile unit to deliver patient care and refer patients, when appropriate, to various community partners like TCCH, the Health Department and Partners in Women’s Health. Finally they want to identify champions in several local communities to be the voice for the health and wellness needs in that particular area. He further stated that they plan on measuring a wide range of metrics to estimate the efficiency and effectiveness of this campaign. There was further Trustee discussion concerning Mr. Field’s request, specifically his ideas concerning the mobile unit.
Public Comment- There was no public comment.
Adjourn- The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 PM
