The Yuma Hospital District Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting on August 27.
All five members were in attendance, President Mitch Korf, Delaina Klein, Mark Werts, Monica King and Elizabeth Hickman.
A video presentation was made at the start of the meeting, honoring Teri Mekelburg, RN, of the Yuma Clinic. She recently received the Stronger Together Award at the Eastern Plains Healthcare Consortium Annual Conference. Mekelburg was unable to attend the board meeting due to a conflict.
CEO Anne Kreutzer gave several updates during her report to the board.
Garett Frank, MD, has begun his ophthalmology services in the specialty clinic. Telehealth mental health services will be available starting around October 1.
Dr. Blitch is going to start practicing in Yuma this month. Kreutzer said the district also has reached an agreement with a nurse practitioner. Both are bilingual.
Kreutzer told the board the district is in the process of formalizing regular clinic hours at Harmony Home/Eben Ezer assisted living facility.
She reported the hospital has hired a company out of Colby, Kansas, to help maximize revenue through the 340B program, which allows for hospitals to purchase pharmaceuticals at a discounted rate. The company focuses on helping critical access hospitals
Kreutzer reported the hospital is having an analysis done on its Medicare charges, and has hired a consultant to help it with Cerner, which provides the electronic medical records service.
Financials
Colette Martin provided the financial report for July. She said everything is looking good. The district is ahead of last year at this time of year, and the district made money in operations and overall. The district is ahead of budget.
The district is a little over budget in salary and wages, and currently is not receiving back as much as it putting into the Provider Fee program
The board accepted the financial report.
Martin proposed opening an account with Colorado Trust, which does investments for local governments. She said maximizing cash balances by earning interest on every penny will help the district improve services to the community. She proposed moving all available cash into the Colorado Trust account, except enough to cover operations and salary on any given day.
The board approved the investment resolution on a 5-0 vote.
A motion to establish Kreutzer, Martin and Klein as signators was approved. The board also approved a motion to discontinue the automatic rollover in Raymond James Investment accounts. Instead, it will be determined where to invest the funds for the best return.
Martin and the board went over the 2026 budget timeline. The preliminary budget will be presented at the September 24 meeting, and the final budget will be up for approval at the December meeting. The board approved a motion to move that meeting to December 10.
More meeting
• The Quality and Compliance Report was approved.
• The purchase of a freezer to store fresh plasma was approved. The board also approved paying a “rush” fee if there is one.
• Updates to the board bylaws were approved.
• Ted Beckman went over the timeline for the new MRI with the board. The new chiller was to be installed this week, and the mobile MRI was scheduled to arrive September 10. The new MRI will arrive and be installed between October 6 and October 13. The “go live” date with the new MRI is October 31.
• Beckman also went over patient experience based on surveys. He said all the departments are meeting or above their goals in regards to positive experiences. It was noted that is a big deal.