EMPORIA, KS| by Ryann Brooks| April 24, 2019
Original article can be found at: http://www.emporiagazette.com
The outlook for the Flint Hills Community Health Center continues to improve.
Board members heard another favorable report during a meeting Tuesday afternoon at the health center.
Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Ringgold reported an overall $32,000 profit for the health center in the month of March.
“That brings our year-to-date performance to a profit of just over $40,000,” she said.
That improvement is seen both in Emporia and in the Eureka clinic.
Ringgold said, while the health center is still about $100,000 under budget, its expenses are also $100,000 under budget.
“We did have a cash flow increase for the current month,” she said. “We are two-thirds of our way to our 90-day goal. We’re making good progress.”
The health center has also seen overall increases in productivity across its clinics. That is seen in an increase of patient revenue, Ringgold said. The medical clinic is under budget by 19 percent — an improvement based on past numbers.
“That is the smallest variance in their budget that we’ve seen in a long time,” she said.
Medical Director Dr. James Fast said, overall, his department is increasing its productivity while dealing with an ongoing problem of no-show appointments.
“We’re still having our problems with no-shows,” he said. “We are still working on addressing that problem. It’s inherent in any medical practice to have that problem, but we see it a little bit more in [Federally Qualified Health Centers] than we did in private practice.”
Fast said part of that could be attributed to demographics related to the health center’s client base.
“We understand that, but we’re trying to address that,” he said.
Dental Director Dr. Regan Orr said the dental clinic has also seen improvements in productivity. The clinic is now fully-staffed and an additional dental assistant has been hired for the Eureka office.
Dr. Dilip Patel, psychiatry director, said the behavioral health department saw an increase of more than 100 patients over this time last year. The department saw 438 patients last month, compared to 305 patients in March 2018. An additional provider will also be traveling to the Eureka clinic once a week.
Health Services Director Jennifer Milbern then updated the board on emergency preparedness efforts. One initiative she hopes to begin locally includes the “Stop the Bleed” program, which is designed to teach community members how to administer bleeding control to save lives during an emergency situation.
“Research has shown that the majority of people who are inflicted with these mass shooting events or mass violence events, that the first medical treatment is [administered] by bystanders — not trained medical professionals,” Milbern said. “A lot of them actually arrive at a hospital by private vehicle.”
She said training community members in life-saving techniques just enhances the safety of the community overall.
The board also:
Reappointed the credentials for LPN Alisha Wells
Approved job description updates for front desk managers and schedulers
Approved the organizational chart update
The FHCHC Board of Directors will next meet at noon May 28 at the health center.
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