The West Tennessee Healthcare Board of Trustees of the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital District held its monthly meeting at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, Tuesday.
Highlights of the meeting included:
Special Report
Dr. Vicki Lake, Director, provided a special report on the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessments conducted for the service areas in accordance with the Affordable Care Act.
Medical Staff Privileges
The Board approved recommendations for medical staff privileges at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital as presented by Dr. Jackie Taylor, Chief Physician Executive.
Resolution – Medical Staff Bylaws
The Board approved a resolution presented by Dr. Jackie Taylor, Chief Physician Executive, to amend certain provisions of the JMCGH medical staff bylaws as recommended by the JMCGH medical staff.
Resolution – Purchase of Property
The Board approved a resolution presented by Jeff Blankenship, Chief Financial Officer, to purchase real property located on North Hospital campus at 322 Hospital Blvd, Jackson, TN for a price of $4,470,000 and assets for a price of $1,846,250 from budgeted District funds.
Resolution – Bond Resolutions (2)
The Board approved two separate resolutions presented by Jeff Blankenship, CFO, to restructure a portion of the system’s outstanding debt.
Resolutions – Community Health Needs Assessments
The Board approved a resolution presented by Jeff Blankenship, CFO, to approve the 2021 community health needs assessments in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Resolutions – Community Health Needs Assessments
The Board approved a resolution presented by Vanessa Patrick, VP of Business Development, to approve community physician needs assessments in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Resolutions – Dyersburg Hospital Interventional Pain Therapy
The Board approved a resolution presented by Dr. Jackie Taylor, Chief Physician Executive, to purchase equipment to implement an interventional pain therapy program at Dyersburg Hospital at a cost of $328,500 from budgeted District capital funds.
Committee Reports
The Board heard a report from the Finance Committee presented by Danny Wheeler, and they also heard from representatives from Dixon Hughes Goodman, external audit firm, who reported on the system’s annual audit. The audit received a clean opinion from the auditors. There were no proposed audit adjustments.
CFO Report
Jeff Blankenship, CFO, presented highlights of the organization’s financial performance through September.  With high COVID-19 related volumes in September, hospital discharges were down with an extended length of stay, driving costs up, particularly for drugs and staffing.  As a result, the system’s operating income fell and was a loss for the month of September.  Year to-date, through the first quarter, the system’s operating margin is 0.4% vs. 1.7% budgeted.
Management Report
James Ross, President and CEO, introduced Charleyn Reviere as General Counsel and Dr. Claude Pirtle as VP, Chief Medical Information Officer due to recent promotions.
Mr. Ross acknowledged Bill Welch, Director of Internal Audit, and the financial teams of the organization for their work each year contributing to the audit results.
Scott Krodel, Chief Information Officer, and Darrell King, Vice-President, provided an update on the Epic EMR conversion in the West Tennessee Medical Group.
Mr. Ross reported that the Heart and Vascular Center at JMCGH received the first recognition in the state for being a Heart Care Center of Excellence and he acknowledged the work of the Friends of Heart in the 4-minute city efforts in providing AED’s.
Teresa Freeman, Chief Nursing Officer at JMCGH, provided an updated on nursing turnover, which is better than average in the country.
