Care and Rehab board honors Gil Conover

By PHIL FAUVER Staff writer

Emery County Care and Rehabilitation, Board of Directors meet monthly at the facility. Dixie Fish of Ferron was introduced by Commissioner Laurie Pitchforth as a new member of the board.
Dan Wells, board chairman, presented a recognition award to Gil Conover for the his past contributions as chairman on the board. Following the introductions and awards Bryan Erickson the CEO of Traditions Health Care gave a report on the finances and marketing of Emery County Care and Rehabilitation. He also discussed the competition in Emery and Carbon counties. He said, cash flow was better this month over the previous month and we expect 2011 will be better than 2010 because we have added a few additional patients. The good care we give our patients is the thing that encourages people to use our facility.
Erickson reported the total income for the year to date, “We have had 1,009 patient days and have averaged 32.5 patients per day. We need 37.6 patients per day to be profitable. Our total income was $185,609 and is $23,000 less than we budgeted for. We had five patients fewer per month than needed, due to the extensive renovation during all of 2010. We need more Medicare and private patients in our facility. Medicare pays better than Medicaid. Statewide Medicaid does not fund the cost of providing care for patients. Every Medicaid nursing home providing care for Medicaid patients has to provide a report annually of their costs to the state. For every Medicaid resident we have in our facility, we lose $27 per day. The number of Medicare residents helps offset some of that loss. The doctors write the orders that send a patient to a care facility. However the patient or the family can choose the nursing home they feel most comfortable with.
“CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) or the federal government has changed the way they are going to monitor us. The way they are going to evaluate nursing homes is so different now compared to the way it used to be and it is all computer based. We too use computers for gathering information. Our new computer electronic charting, our new call light system and our computer data collecting will be to our advantage when we have our new CMS survey. We are collecting data better and more accurately than ever before. We are able now to provide data about each patient and the overall care in this facility with a very high degree of accuracy. We are better able to determine the costs and benefits of each department.
There are some organizations that will not accept Medicaid or HMO patients, because the state has a reputation of doing all it can to deny the claims. We accept Medicaid and HMO patients in our facility and work hard to collect the money,” said Erickson.
Alec Stephenson the Administrator reported, “How grateful we are for the support we get from the local community. The schools come here, the Senior Centers come here often and we have activities everyday. We have two formal activities every day. One activity is initiated by our staff and one activity is brought in by someone from the outside community. It is just a matter of scheduling. In the recreation area there is a big calendar posted on the wall and we almost always have activities in addition to what is posted. Because not all residents can come to the recreation area, we have some groups that will go visiting from room to room,” said Stephenson.
Administrator Stephenson reported that consideration is being given to obtaining Ham Radios for an additional form of communication in the case of a disaster. This will require FCC training on the part of some of the staff. The new computer system does track all aspects of the patients and is working wonderfully.
“We have added a new call system and we have improved so many things that these changes will put us ahead of other nursing facilities. We have a computer tracking system from the time a patient presses a call button to the amount of time it takes for a CNA aide to respond to that room or patient. We have been without a Social Services person or resident advocate for three months and that will soon be corrected.
“Every six months Pinnacle our survey satisfaction company, calls random individuals, mostly family members and sometimes the residents and they compile data on the satisfaction of service. A year ago we had four Best in Class Awards, last August we had six, and this time we have seven awards. Those are for overall quality of stay, nursing care, facility cleanliness, laundry service, quality of food, dining service, and over all safety. This is not a state survey this is a national survey. We received seven of the 15 parameters they use in these satisfaction surveys. A certificate is being given to each of our departments. We look forward to Dr. Charles Canfield from American Fork being with us temporarily. He has been appointed to ECCR as our Medical Director. We have a one month contract with him and we have feelers out to at least three other doctors to take on this assignment.
“The looks of the New ECCR exterior and interior renovation, the parking lot, the room colors, the new decorations and the additional rooms available are a definite positive that encourages people, who in the future may be, needing care, to visit Emery County Care and Rehabilitation. Those who have visited the new ECCR go away very impressed by the brightness, cleanliness, and the friendly staff,” said Stephenson.