GREENSBURG — The Decatur County Memorial Hospital (DCMH) Board met for the first time in 2016 Thursday for the election of officers and the discussion of 2015 financial reports.
Scott Simmonds will serve another term as he remains chairperson after unanimous votes from his fellow board members. However, a new vice chairperson was elected as John Corya obtained the position for the new year. Similarly, Dr. Mary McCullough was elected secretary and Linda Simmons as treasurer.
Westport native, Pat Cruser, was introduced and welcomed to the board. Cruser worked in Columbus Regional Hospital for 42 years with 32 of those in the oncology division. Now, she’s looking forward to working with DCMH.
“It’s very exciting for me to be a part of this team,” Cruser said in response to questions following the meeting. “I thank you all for welcoming me and I’m going to look forward to learning from this side of it and be a part of this community.”
According to the board, they ended the year well financially. In their effort to provide more access to care for Decatur County residents with facilities like the Westport Clinic and the WELL Clinic, they’ve all factored in and supported growth initiatives.
“In short, we had a really good 2015 – it was really exciting building it up. We finished with everything we thought it would be,” Simmonds said in response to questions following the meeting. “We ended up with a 3.17 percent operating margin, which is about a 1 percent improvement from where we were on operations last year. That’s really a lot of work with this staff – had a lot of initiatives this year. So, being able to increase the margin while we have a lot of things going on is great.”
Simmonds also mentioned that one of the key elements impacting their success is the increase in visits and patient days in the new Med/Surg area. The two full-time hospitalists that are able to take care of patients allows the hospital to focus on patients in the community and not having to transfer them to other forms of care.
The hiring of a new compliance officer was also approved. Brad Green’s role will focus on the systems that are in place for regulatory requirements in regards to Medicare and Medicaid.
“We’re really excited about bringing Brad on,” Simmonds said in response to questions following the meeting. “He has progressed and done a great job – he’s helpful in getting us our ISO certification – he was a big part of that and he’s going to do a great job in the compliance role.”
However, the hospital will say goodbye to Urology Specialist Dana Pfaff as he recently resigned from his position. Pfaff is a 38-year veteran in the field.
The next board meeting will take place Thursday, Feb. 25.
Contact: Joshua Heath, 812-663-3111 x 7401; joshua.heath@greensburg dailynews.com