ST. THOMAS - A Schneider Regional Medical Center official saidWednesday that she felt very positive about an unannouncedaccrediting survey that Joint Commission inspectors conducted at themedical center earlier this month.
"They were very, very complimentary about the services we offerhere," Schneider Regional Interim Chief Executive Officer ElizabethHarris told the hospital's governing board at its regular meetingWednesday night.
The inspection was a routine survey that the Joint Commission,the nation's top credentialing agency for hospitals, conducts everythree years, Harris said.
She said that in a preliminary exit report, surveyors said theyfound four deficiencies, called requirements for improvement.
She said that specifics of the survey could not be released untilthe hospital receives a final report from the commission, becausethe findings may change after the preliminary information goesthrough the Joint Commission process.
She expects to receive the report within the next few days, shesaid.
In an interview, she said that typically, inspectors may find upto nine requirements for improvement without those findingsaffecting a hospital's accreditation status.
Surveyors also found nine items that were not directly related topatient care that were placed on what the commission calls a "to-dolist," Harris said. Those items, although they must be corrected, donot affect accreditation status in any way, she said.
In other discussion, Harris told board members the hospital needsto replace 12 of its hemodialysis machines, which filter and cleanthe blood of patients whose kidneys have failed. Harris told theboard last month that the machines need to be replaced. OnWednesday, she said the hospital was "in desperate need" ofreplacing the units, although officials have not identified funds tobuy new ones.
The machines cost approximately $20,000 each, although BlondellWilliams, vice president for nursing and patient care services, saidthat after a discussion with the supplier, the hospital may be ableto get the machines for slightly less than that.
Board Chairman Cornel Williams said officials need to explorethree different avenues for money to buy the machines: governmentfunding, community fundraising or financing the purchase. He saidthat a combination of the three may be necessary to raise enoughmoney.
In his report, Interim Chief Financial Officer Eugene Welsh toldthe board the hospital is in a slightly better financial position atthis point in the fiscal year than it was at the same time lastyear.
Operating losses - which do not factor in government support orother non-operating revenues - are at $31.7 million so far thisyear, compared with $34.3 million at the same time last year. Whenoffset by government appropriations and other non-operatingrevenues, the medical center's overall loss at this point isapproximately $8.7 million, down from $11.5 million at the same timelast year.
Officials also discussed cost-saving measures that are beingimplemented throughout the hospital.
In other action, the board:
- Approved credentials for physicians, including 13 radiologistswho will provide preliminary readings for emergency CAT scans thatare conducted after hours.
Schneider Regional Medical Director Dr. Thelma Watson said thescans will be sent to the radiologists, who are employed by VirtualRadiologic, via the Internet. They will then call preliminaryreadings into the hospital. Staff radiologists at the hospital willconduct official readings of the scans within 24 hours.
"We hope to start that service in August, and that is so patientsget the same level of care no matter when they visit the emergencyroom," she said.
- Asked hospital executives to move forward with recruiting andhiring an internal auditor, pending finding funding for theposition. One of the recommendations from a joint federal-localinspectors general audit released a year ago was to hire an internalauditor. Board member Judith Richardson said that although theposition was created and budgeted, "funding it continues to be achallenge."
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