{"id":437,"date":"2018-12-31T15:07:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T23:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/?p=437"},"modified":"2020-04-15T17:01:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T01:01:43","slug":"end-of-year-board-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/end-of-year-board-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"End of Year Board Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Board Changes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s (EPHC\u2019s) December Board of Directors meeting saw the changing of the guard, with long time Board member\nLucie Kreth leaving her post, and Teresa\nWhitfield coming on to the Board for a four\nyear term.\nWhitefield worked previously at EPHC as Chief Nursing Officer. All three newly elected Board members, including Whitfield\nand incumbents Gail McGrath and Harvey West, were sworn in by Kreth, who has\nalso served as the Board\u2019s Secretary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Board\ndiscussed committee appointments, with Whitfield requesting to be on the Quality Assurance Committee.\nThis was an area she focused on in her run for the Board, and also one she\noversaw in her tenure here. Other committee appointments remained the same, and\nMcGrath agreed to take over as Secretary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

District Changes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Beals, Sierra County\u2019s Planning Director as\nwell as LAFCo\nExecutive Officer spoke to the current reorganization\nefforts between Sierra Valley Hospital District\n(SVHD) and Eastern Plumas Hospital District\n(Eastern Plumas Health Care). Specifically,\nhe wanted to point out to the Board that EPHC will\ninherit a corridor that runs along Highway 395 and is \u201cunique from a service\ndelivery standpoint.\u201d There are few protocols\nregarding who takes care of what services in this area according to Beals.\nThough there are, at present, only sixteen\nhouses in this area (in Long Valley), an additional 14,000 homes have been\napproved within the corridor, on the Nevada side he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, while\nthe homes would not be in the annexed territory, Beals pointed out that much of\nthat community\u2019s recreation, Christmas tree cutting, traffic, and more would\ninevitably take place within EPHC\u2019s new service area, offering service\nopportunities and also liabilities. He suggested that the Board might want to\nthink about \u201cwhether or not it is feasible to serve it.\u201d Interim CEO, Jayne\nO\u2019Flanagan, clarified the Board\u2019s position, stating, \u201cthe Board recognizes this\nis a Special Study\narea that the Board will address later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board Chairman, Jay Scutt, noted that Monday, Dec. 10th, at the monthly\nLAFCo meeting, the required public hearing regarding the \u201creorganization\u201d\nof the two hospital districts\nwould take place. That reorganization involves the annexation by EPHC of a\nlarge portion of the territory within Sierra Valley Hospital District and the\ndissolution of SVHD, ultimately transferring all services and assets to EPHC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  After that meeting, a required protest\nhearing will be held in Sierra County. \nFinally, paperwork will be filed with the State,\nsaid Scutt. This will finalize the reorganization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Copren,\nChairman of SVHD, said Eastern Plumas Health Care has been providing all\nservices on contract for many years. This reorganization effort is a \u201cformality\n– getting rid of a hospital district that has no purpose.\u201d He noted that EPHC\ncurrently receives two thirds of the property tax money from SVHD. The\nreorganization moves the final third of SVHD\u2019s tax dollars to EPHC, \u201cbecause\nthey\u2019re providing 100% of the services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Independent Audit\nResults<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerrel Tucker of JWT & Associates, LLP, presented his\nannual audit results, which he summed up as \u201cgood news,\u201d at the outset. He\nexplained that EPHC achieved an \u201cunmodified opinion,\u201d meaning that he found the year\u2019s financial reporting to be\naccurate. He added that there were no\n\u201creportable findings,\u201d which means nothing was\nlate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker went on to note that when both a new CEO and CFO\ncome into an organization, as happened this year at EPHC, that can be a \u201cred\nflag.\u201d He noted, however, that \u201cthings went\nsmoothly, you were well prepared\u2026there were no problems.\u201d He commended new CFO\nKatherine Pairish and Controller Janie Dikes\nfor their hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that the IGT (Intergovernmental Transfer) program\nwas continuing into a third year. IGTs are Medi-Cal payouts from the federal\ngovernment that attempt to backfill for traditionally low payments for\nMedi-Cal patient services. (EPHC is paid approximately fifteen cents on the\ndollar for services.) It\u2019s a \u201cgreat program, if confusing,\u201d\nsaid Tucker, noting that EPHC was doing a good\njob of \u201csqueezing out every bit you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall,\nTucker said the hospital saw a \u201cnet bottom line of\nalmost $1.4 million\u2026a good, solid year.\u201d In addition, cash on hand increased to\n$4 million, and accounts receivable (AR) was down by $1 million. \u201cYou continue to\nstrengthen your overall financial position for the District,\u201d Tucker added. \u201cIt\nwas a good year, with a strengthened financial position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed to some additional debt for the remodel of the\nPortola Clinic, to include expanded clinic space for new behavioral health\nservices and for medical services. Tucker saw\nthis as an overall advantage since the debt is\ndirectly related to service expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, he said the \u201choly grail\u201d of collections on debt is\n45 days, and EPHC sits at 44, which means that \u201cyour business office has to be\ndoing a great job.\u201d And, if bad debt is under five\npercent, \u201cit\u2019s great,\u201d and EPHC\u2019s is sitting at two\nto three percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucker summed things up: \u201cAll the numbers point to doing a\nreally good job. Pat yourself on the back, be happy for a second, and then keep\nyour foot on the gas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Positive Changes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interim CEO\nO’Flanagan reported that EPHC\u2019s new permanent Chief Nursing Officer, Sharon\nDiNicholas is taking over on Dec. 10. In addition, new CEO, Todd Plimpton, was\non hand for the December Board meeting. Though he won\u2019t take the helm until\nJanuary 3, he was eager to get to know staff and Board members alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinic\nDirector, Rhonda Grandi, announced that two new providers will be starting at\nthe Portola Clinic in January. Dr. Shruti Aggarwal is a new full time family\npractice physician with over twenty years of experience, most recently at a\nrural practice with Lassen Medical Clinic in Red Bluff, CA. Dr. Sunnie Skiles\nwill see pediatric patients one day per month initially, while still\nmaintaining her private practice in Rocklin, CA. She will add days as her\npractice in Portola expands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nremodeled Portola Dental Clinic should reopen in February, according to Grandi.\nAt that time, the Pine Street Clinic will be remodeled and will be a medical\nclinic only, with all dental moving back to the Portola Clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employee of the Year, 2018<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shawna Leal,\nClinic Back Office Supervisor, has been named 2018 Employee of the Year. Leal\nhas worked at EPHC since 1990 and is very much looking forward to the parking\nspace of her choice, a perk that comes with the Award. Clinic Director Grandi\ncited Leal\u2019s dedication, adding that she \u201cgoes above and beyond for our\npatients and our community on a regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Board Changes Eastern Plumas Health Care\u2019s (EPHC\u2019s) December Board of Directors meeting saw the changing of the guard, with long time Board member Lucie Kreth leaving her post, and Teresa Whitfield coming on to the Board for a four year term. Whitefield worked previously at EPHC as Chief Nursing Officer. All three newly elected Board […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,8,10,12,11],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-board","tag-ephc","tag-plumas-county","tag-portola","tag-sierra-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ephc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}