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Searching for ways to save money, the Regional Medical Center is looking to reduce the amount of time patients stay in the hospital.
RMC general surgeon Dr. Arden Weathers told trustees Tuesday that the hospital is in the process of hiring a nephrology case coordinator to oversee ways to reduce the length of stay for patients in the hospital’s nephrology department.
Weathers said the pilot project was initiated after an internal analysis by the hospital’s quality care team showed a reduction in length of stay by 20 percent and a reduction in kidney dialysis on the day of discharge by 50 percent could save the hospital about $496,000 a year.
“The significant thing for this on the long haul is if this works for nephrology and we can save this much money on nephrology, we can use it on congestive heart failure and we can use it on surgical patients,” Weathers said.
The case coordinator would receive a salary of about $22 to $32 an hour.
Weathers said currently the hospital’s length of stay in nephrology is about 8.14 days which, compared to peer hospitals, should be 5.34 days.
Decreasing the number of days by 1.6 it would save the hospital about 850 days of patient stays.
“Plus you would have the savings on dialysis,” Weathers said. “Dialysis is relatively expensive.”
RMC President Tom Dandridge said the need to save money is increasing.
“Right now, Medicare rates are paying us somewhere between 10 and 20 percent below cost,” Dandridge said. “We want to improve care and at the same time reduce costs. That is the type of environment we are heading into.
“The trick is better quality and less expense. If we don’t, we will strangle ourselves.”
In other matters, trustees unanimously agreed to transfer $20.3 million out of the general operating account, reserve account and funds received from the bond proceeds into a Victory fund.
Currently, Victory has a 5.3 percent interest rate. The funds are government-backed.
The move is designed to diversify the hospital’s portfolio.
“If you divide by two people and all funds go wrong, you are going to have all of your money in one fund,” Finance Committee Chairman Danny Covington said.
The reallocation would leave the hospital’s investment portfolio with 56 percent in SIT, 27 percent in Victory and 17 percent in Harris.
RMC Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Mason said since the hospital is regulated as a governmental body, it cannot invest in equities.
“While that is supposed to keep us more secure, it actually brings us in a more riskier position because we can’t diversify like we could if we weren’t governmental,” she said.
Trustees also approved $647,982 in capital projects, with $448,475 going toward a new uninterruptible power supply system and heating, ventilation and cooling system. Officials say both of the existing units are at the end of their life cycle and are not meeting the requirements for cooling or power quality.
In other business:
Trustees agreed to have a letter drafted thanking both Orangeburg and Calhoun county councils for giving the hospital the authority to borrow $25 million for capital improvement projects.
Trustees unanimously approved entering into a $57,000 one-year contract with pension fund administrator Aon to evaluate the hospital’s pension plan.
Trustees unanimously approved a contract with Legal Shield to offer employees legal service opportunities and an identity theft benefit. The program will be a voluntary benefit that employees can enroll in for a fee that would be paid for through payroll deduction – like other voluntary benefits.
The program should tentatively be available in either August or September.
Trustees named board Chairman Edward Furtick Trustee of the Year.
Contact the writer:
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or 803-533-5551.
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