Lot sold, subject to health center board?s approval

The Jefferson County Health Center Board of Trustees has accepted a $50,000 offer for its 2.52-acre lot at 605 E. Madison Ave., and will be voting on the sale during its regular board meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Monday in the health center?s conference room.

Chief Financial Officer Gene Irwin has signed the purchase agreement on behalf of the hospital, subject to board approval, and was planning to pick up the documents today for signatures of board president Bob Keller and finance/HR committee chairwoman Renee Rebling.

Also during the finance/HR committee meeting this morning, Irwin told committee members a consultant?s financial study shows changing the JCHC Professional Clinic from a stand-alone clinic to a hospital department, could result in additional reimbursement from Medicare ? possibly $150,000 more annually based on data from the last fiscal year.

Operating JCHC Professional Clinic as a provider-based clinic wouldn?t result in any changes to staffing, but there would need to be coordination between the JCHC Professional Clinic staff and the hospital staff, continued Irwin.

For example, now when the clinic sends a patient for a service, like X-rays, at the hospital, the patient has to check in at the service desk. But once the clinic becomes a department, a patient would no longer have to go through the check-in process.

Irwin didn?t know when the change would take place, but said it would be no later than the end of the fiscal year.

The clinic must meet several criteria, obligations and other requirements in order to comply with provider-based regulations.

?It?s a fairly large undertaking ? but it?s worth the effort, no doubt about it,? he said.

The committee members also heard an update on specialty clinics by the health center?s administrator and CEO, Deb Cardin.

Two obstetric/gynecologic providers from Washington, Iowa, started a weekly clinic Tuesday at the health center, and two providers from Mount Pleasant who plan to have clinics here every Thursday beginning Dec. 1 were at the health center this morning to meet the staff.

Both OB/GYN clinics plan on performing gynecologic surgery and procedures here, as well as prenatal checks for pregnant women and care for any other gynecologic concerns.

Cardin said a gastroenterology clinic is set to begin Nov. 1, a dermatology clinic looks to be a go at the beginning of the year, the rheumatology clinic is booked through February and efforts to begin an ears/nose/throat clinic are under way.

?Our specialty clinics are going well,? said Cardin. ?They are definitely needed.?

Committee members also learned the health center is preparing for a Medicare audit in January.

Irwin said the audit will cover fiscal year 2010, which was the first full year of being a critical access hospital in the new facility.

The audit will be a ?square footage audit,? he continued.

Irwin anticipates the Medicare representatives will look at drawings of the hospital and look in at different department areas, but he doesn?t think they will be doing actual measuring.

The Jefferson County Health Center Board of Trustees will meet for dinner at 6 p.m. Monday in the conference center, followed by the meeting at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.