DMHS accepts LOI from Baptist; passes resolution on Sustainability Plan

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The monthly meeting of the Drew Memorial Health Systems Board of Governors was held on Monday, April 24.  All of the members of the board were present with the exception of Lagarian Cross.  

DMHS Chief Executive Officer, Scott Barrilleaux, stated that he he been in weekly talks with the state agencies that determine whether or not DMHS will receive any further funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).  Barilleaux said that there were two conditions that DMHS must meet in order for the funds to be approved. The first of these is that the DMHS Board of Governors pass a resolution to approve the sustainability plan which had been drawn up several months ago by members of the senior leadership team at the hospital.  This plan shows that the board is aware of the issues the hospital is facing, and that they are working to address the issues as outlined in the sustainability plan. 

Chief Operating Officer, Jenny Guthrie, added that the plan has been a “working copy”, and that the leadership team has made changes to show the actions taken to correct some of the issues discussed in the plan. A motion was made and seconded to pass the resolution unanimously.

The second stipulation is that DMHS receives a letter of intent (LOI) from Baptist. 

Barrilleaux asked the members of the board if the agenda could be amended to allow him to present the LOI to the board, as he had just received it from Baptist’s attorney. 

After being presented with the LOI, the board members were given several minutes to look it over.  Carl Lucky made a motion to accept the LOI presented by Baptist, and Wayne Owen seconded the motion.  Chairman Mike Akin called the motion to a vote, which passed with one dissension from board member, Robin McClendon. 

Melodie Colwell, Chief Financial Officer, gave the March financial report to the board during the meeting.  She stated that the month of March saw a cash decrease right under $600,000.  Colwell said, “This is primarily driven by the fact that there were three pay periods paid out in March.”  Salaries were over budget $66,000 for the month of March as well. This is due, in large part, to the in-house contracts the hospital has. These will continue to cause budgetary issues until DMHS can re-budget. 

The board was also presented with a change to the Physical Therapy policies and procedures. This change was made after some recent issues in the PT area.  These changes will be applied to anyone in this service area moving forward.

The Board of Governors held a conference call with TruBridge and HRG employees to discuss billing, collections, etc. The HRG representatives state that the month of March, DMHS saw record revenue in the amount of $10.6 million, which was up 20 percent from February.  They also stated that they had been keeping up with the situation with DMHS and wanted to know what they could do to help from a support standpoint, and what the future plans were.  Barrilleaux stated that the July 1 date with Baptist is still the hospital’s main goal.  Barrilleaux also reiterated that Baptist has no plans to change any third party relationships so long as they remain beneficial. 

The board was also informed by TruBridge that in the past they have set up employment agreements to allow employees to be absorbed by TruBridge with no strings attached. They made this offer to the board in regards to employees at DMHS who are qualified to work on coding and billing.

With no further business, the next meeting was scheduled for May 22.