Board holds first meeting

Published 10:07 pm Tuesday, December 6, 2005

During what Chairman Steve Glasscock referred to as a historic meeting, the Cullman Regional Medical Center Board of Directors met Tuesday night for the first time as an independent group.

Marking the occasion of last week’s purchase of Baptist Health System’s 50 percent ownership of CRMC, Glasscock thanked members of the Cullman County Commission, board members and CRMC staff for their support and encouragement over the past 2 1/2 years.

“It was a long and sometimes difficult process,” Glasscock said. “And I want to publicly thank Wiley Kitchens and the other members of the county commission for their support as well as the support we’ve received from the medical staff at CRMC, the employees and the citizens of Cullman County.”

Absent from Tuesday’s meeting were former BHS representatives Wayne Pate, Homer Lloyd and Mark Bryan. Baptist had owned a half interest in CRMC since 1993, when BHS and the Health Care Authority of Cullman County partnered to construct the Alabama Highway 157 facility.

Glasscock reported that new articles of incorporation and bylaws would be adopted in regard to representation and board set-up, hopefully by the end of the first quarter of 2006.

New CRMC CEO James D. Weidner shared with board his vision for returning CRMC to a strong financial footing in the New Year.

“We have a plan in mind for putting CRMC back in the black in regard to its revenue cycle and part of that will be making certain we get paid for the services we provide,” Weidner said. “Part of that will entail sending the right bills out to the insurance companies with the right things on them.”

Weidner said another priority for the management team at CRMC is to make certain they are running an efficient hospital.

Under new initiatives, Weidner announced that CRMC will has been engaged in talks with members of the county commission and will aggressively seek to contract with the county to provide medical services to the inmate population at the Cullman County Detention Center.

“This represents a roughly $1 million contract and I believe we can save the county money by introducing a fixed rate on medical coverage for inmates at the detention center. That way the county can know with a degree of certainty what its medical expenses will be for a given period of time,” Weidner said. “I promised to submit a full proposal to the commission by Dec. 15 and I will deliver that proposal next week.”

Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said the commission will consider any and all alternatives in an effort to bring its inmate medical costs down.

“We currently provide the inmates with medical services through Woodland Medical Center. We’ve met with Woodland officials on several occasions in the hope of bringing our medical expenses under some kind of control. We’re now looking to CRMC for that same reason,” Kitchens said. “This is our hospital now. We budget money to CRMC so I think it only makes sense that we would want to use our hospital to provide medical care to inmates at the county jail. Certainly if Woodland would also like to present a proposal we would consider it as well.”

In other business, the board approved capital outlays totaling $18,939 for a EKG machine, six vacuum cleaners, an ice maker and a deep fat fryer for the Cafe Grill.

The board also:

ä Approved the medical staff application of Mona Johnson, CRNA, Allied Health Professional.

ä Approved carotid artery stenting privileges for Jeff Manord, M.D.

ä Approved the re-appointment of Eric Jay Bray, M.D., to the active staff, anesthesiology.

Before adjourning, the board honored Bill Smith, M.D., who attended his final meeting Tuesday as chief of the medical staff at CRMC.

Glasscock presented Smith with a token of the board’s appreciation and unveiled a sketched portrait of the out-going chief of staff which will be hung in a prominent place in the lobby of CRMC.

“That was a very nice honor and it left me somewhat speechless,” Smith said. “I have enjoyed working with the board as chief of staff, but I leave the position in the good hands of Dr. Steve Seidel, who will assume that position in January.”

The next board meeting is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Jan. 3.

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