The Yuma Hospital District Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting last week in the Pearse Board Room at Yuma District Hospital.
All five board members were in attendance, President Mitch Korf, Delaina Klein, Mark Werts, Monica King and Liz Hickman.
The district is looking for a chief financial officer again as Mark Roberts resigned after a short time with the district. Colette Martin is again filling the role on an interim basis, as she did after long-time CFO Rick Korf resigned last summer.
Martin presented a preliminary report on January’s financials as the district is completing 2025 year-end and still had reconciliations to do for January. However, the she said she believes there will be a modest profit for January. Patient revenue in January was $3.52 million, and the net operating revenue was $1.895 million.
Several financial resolutions were approved unanimously by the board. One was to remove Roberts as a signer on accounts. Another added Martin, Vice President of Medical Services Ted Beckman and Klein as authorized signers. A third designated CEO Anne Kreutzer, Martin and Beckman as authorized signers on accounts with Pinnacle Bank, and remove former CEO Beth Saxton, Rick Korf and Beth Ferrari. Also, the board approved Soren as the auditing firm for the 2025 audit, at a much lower cost than long-time auditor Eide Bailey.
The board approved the Medical Staff Directors List. Dr. John Glick and Dr Matt Nowland are Co-Chiefs of Staff. Other department directors are: Dr. Charles Frankum, Surgical Services; Dr. Nowland, Trauma, ER, Other Outlet/Med Room, Med Surg and Swing Bed; Dr. Glick, Rehab Services, Cardiac Therapy, Home Health Care, Complex Pharmaceutical Management, Utilization Management, MIPS, Respiratory Therapy, Employee Health; Dr. Mariel Maseburg external and Dr. Glick internal Lab; Dr. Alexander Blitch, Hospital Quality/Policy Committee, Diagnostic Image Services, Med Students; Dr. Todd McLaughlin, Hospital Quality, Infection Prevention, AMS Physician Lead, Clinic Medical Director, and Clinic Policy Committee.
The board also accepted the Quality Summary Update on a 5-0 vote. The board was told that an internal quality inspection a couple of things that need to be updated for about $40,000 to $50,000.
John Westfall, MD, family medicine, was reappointed to the medical staff.
Kreutzer informed the board is trying to recruit a replacement for Dr. Caitlin Ahern at the Akron Clinic. Dr. Ahern will be retiring this year. Kreutzer said the district is in the process of adding some specialty services but it is not completed yet. She added that marketing will focus on surgical services, and there is an effort to target Spanish speakers.
Werts raised several concerns that staff and community members have brought to him.
One was the fact that the blood freezer was not in operation yet. He was told it was about to go online.
He brought up a concern that had been raised before, that YDH does not provide direct access labs. Hospitals throughout the region have it, and Werts said people have told them they don’t use the Yuma facility because it does not. Werts related concerns about the phone system and patients not receiving call backs, and also brought up salaries for RNs.
Werts noted that he tells people to go talk to leadership with their concerns, but many are reluctant. He said Yuma District Hospital is a great facility with a great staff and resources, and he hates seeing people going elsewhere for their medical services.
The board held an executive session at the end of the meeting regarding negotiations in the matter of the CEO’s employment contract. An executive session also was held prior to the regular meeting “to confer with the District’s attorney for the purpose of receiving legal advice…regarding hiring procedures and follow-up to employee resignation.”
The board’s next regular meeting is March 25 at 5 p.m. in the Pearse Board Room.