Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 2013)
SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, January 30,2013 Lady Cards ground MCHD CEO RESIGNS 20 percent ($50,996) due The board unanimously at the kick-off of new sys accepted Healthland’s pro familiar with the area and Hawks especially unfamiliar with a tem modules; 15 percent posal without obtaining -Continued from PAGE ONE is $234,900, fo ra $39,150 average monthly year-to- date gain. ($38,247) due at go live of additional bids because -received a reminder “Centriq Financials” or 18 they had chosen Healthland from Mills that the Irrigon months from execution of for the initial phase, the ambulance is up for re the purchase agreement; systems would be compat placement in the district’s 15 percent ($38,247) due at ible and the costs would be scheduled rotation. Blauer go live of Centriq Clinic or much less. noted that the district has 18 months from execution Prior to the meeting, several large financial obli of the purchase agreement; Blauer led the board in a gations, one of those being and travel expenses to be tour of the remodel to the to Healthland, but Mills Irrigon M edical Clinic. voiced concern that the paid as invoiced. The financial migra He said that the contrac district would fall too far tion initial phase will start tor expects completion of out of rotation. Mills said in N ovem ber/D ecem ber the work around April 7, that the rotation for the Ir of this year with the new later than the district had rigon ambulance is around financial system to go live hoped. Mills said that he 12 years out, with the goal by Feb. 14 o f next year. would like to get remodel of replacement around 10 Initial implementation and change orders and other years and cautioned that training is to start the end of details worked out prior to if the purchases were not made in a timely fashion, the first quarter 2014, with Blauer’s departure. In other business, the the district may be forced to the clinic system to go live board: July 2014.' purchase two ambulances at -heard from Mills con the same time. Phase 1 o f the switch to e le c tro n ic re c o rd s, cerning the district’s pos -received the follow which has been completed, sible bid for a new local ing report for December: cost $551,389, o f which option tax for the district, Pioneer Memorial Hospital $448,874 was reimbursed which would be on the had 11 adm issions, two by Medicare and $125,036 ballot this fall, if the board swing bed admissions, nine reimbursed by Medicaid. approves. Mills asked the admitted for observation, The hospital Medicaid re board to consider whether one admitted for hospital imbursement o f $125,000 they would like to put an respite, 425 total outpa is still pending. Blauer said other levy before the vot tients, 75 total emergency that the district got a big ers, as the current one is room encounters, 1,401 lab discount on the hospital’s set to expire, and if so, for tests, 141 x-ray procedures, system by being one of the how much. The past two 35 CT scans, 29 EKG tests, front-runners in changing local option levies passed one treadmill procedure, over to electronic m edi by Morrow County voters five colonoscopy proce cal records; however, the have been vital to the sur dures, one endoscopy pro discount came with a lot of vival of the district. cedure, one colon/endos- headaches and glitches. The -lea rn ed th at three copy procedure, 86 respi district opted to implement board positions are up for ratory therapy procedures; the second phase o f the election, positions currently Pioneer Memorial Clinic switch after the system has held by Joe Perry, John had 394 patient visits with been tested and many of Murray and Leann Rea. 31 new patients, 35 seen by problems already worked The numbered positions are a nurse and 12 no-shows; out. elected at large. Irrigon Medical Clinic had Phase 2 of the process, -learned that the district 141 patient visits, 17 new involving the clinics, will lost $8,193 in December patients, 39 seen by a nurse cost $309,979, o f which with $634,199 in gross and nine no-shows; Hepp $191,250 is expected to be patient revenue, $11,169 ner Ambulance had 22 total reimbursed by Medicaid. in bad debts, $103,383 page-outs with 20 trans The combined reim for contractual and other ports for $22,669 in ambu bursements leave the dis adjustments for a total of lance revenue; Boardman trict $28,792 in the black, $114,553 in revenue deduc Ambulance had 46 page w hich w ill m ost likely tions for $519,646 in net outs with 21 transports for to be used for additional patient revenue. $116,118 $26,830 in revenue; Irrigon expenses incurred in the in tax revenue and $52,132 Ambulance had 22 page changeover. in other operating revenue outs with 17 transports for . “I doft’t think w e’re for $687,896 in total op $19,555 in revenue; Home going to get a better deal,” erating revenue, compared Health had 74 patient visits; commented Blauer. to $711,752 in operating Hospice had two admis Mills concurred, say expenses and a $15,661 sions; pharmacy had 1,095 ing, “I think we should non-operating gain. drug doses for $58,821 in move forward.” The year-to-date gain drug revenue. small rural Eastern Oregon location and hospital. Mills and the board also stressed the importance of the candi date’s spouse’s willingness to relocate to the area. The board decided against hiring a recruiter because o f the costs in volved. C hief Financial Officer Nicole Mahoney estimated that a recruiter would charge 33 percent of the administrator’s salary, plus expenses, which would probably be in the $40,000 range. “1 would not be in favor of that because the (MCHD) staff does a lot of their work for them and they (the re cruiter) end up getting paid for it,” said Mahoney. The board set an appli cation deadline of March 1. A search committee will be appointed at the February' board meeting. The board initially intends to inter view several candidates by phone or Skype, narrow the field and then bring selected candidates in for a personal interview. Also at the meeting, Blauer outlined the district’s next electronic medical re cords phase, which will cost around $309,979. O f that amount, changing the dis trict’s financial system from paper to electronic records (financial migration) would cost $100,899, and chang ing the clinic system would cost $154,080. Additional costs would include esti mated travel and training costs for Healthland staff, which is capped at $40,000; estimated costs for new hardware would be around $15,000. Healthland, which pro vided the electronic sys tem the district currently employs, offered the fol lowing payment terms: 30 percent ($76,494) due at the execution of the purchase agreem ent; 20 percent ($50,996) due at the kick Cardinal basketball went head-to-head against Horizon off of the migration project; Christian in league play on Jan. 25. The Lady Cards won their contest 58-27, but the boys suffered a crushing 54-92 loss to the Hawks. Top: lone Senior Stacie Halvorsen lays one in for the Lady Cards. Bottom: Cardinal Senior Even Kictmann battles hard against the Hawks in an ultimate 54-92 loss to the The U.S. Department clical Payment Program visiting team. - Photos by Paula Emmel/See more photos on the of Agriculture’s Farm Ser (DCP), the Average Crop Gazette-Times Face book page vice Agency (FSA) reminds Revenue Election Program producers that the American (ACRE), and the Milk In Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 come Loss Contract Pro extended the authorization gram (MILC). of the Food, Conservation, FSA is preparing the and Energy Act o f2008 (the following actions: 2008 Farm Bill) for many -FSA will begin sign Commodity Credit Corpo ups for DCP and ACRE for ration (CCC) commodity, the 2013 crops on Feb. 19. disaster, and conservation The DCP sign-up period programs through 2013. will end on Aug. 2; the FSA administers these pro ACRE sign-up period will grams. end on June 3. The extended programs -The 2013 DCP and include, among others: the ACRE program provi- Direct and Counter-Cy FSA announces program updates Pee-Wee Cardinals strut stuff on court sions are unchanged from 2012, except that all eli gible participants in 2013 may choose to enroll in either DCP or ACRE for the 2013 crop year. This means that eligible producers who were enrolled in ACRE in 2012 may elect to enroll in DCP in 2013 or may re-enroll in ACRE in 2013 (and vice versa). -All dairy producers’ MILC contracts are auto matically extended to Sept. 30, 2013. Eligible produc ers therefore do not need to re-enroll in MILC. Specific details regarding certain modifications to MILC will be released soon. FSA will provide pro ducers with information on program requirements, updates and signups as the information becomes avail able. Any additional details will be posted on FSA’s website. For more information about the programs and loans administered by FSA, visit any FSA county office or www.fsa.usda.gov. lone junior varsity Top: Mason Orem controls the ball during the Cardinals Pee- Wee game last Friday. Bottom: The Cardinal Cheer Squad cheers on their lone teams during Friday’s match-up with Horizon Christian. - Photos by Paula Emmel Pep band shows spirit The Cardinal Pep Band was out in force on Friday, boosting team spirits regardless of game outcomes. Photo by Paula Emmel Above Left: Jordan Synder during the JV game against the Horizon Christian Hawks. Above Right: Junior Zane King during the JV game last Friday. -Photos by Paula Emmel
