Newly-elected board member attend November Community Hospital meeting

McCOOK, Neb. -- Newly-elected board members attended the Community Hospital board of directors regularly scheduled board meeting on November 16 as guests.

Robert C. Hinze, DMP and Lena Koebel were elected to the board and Todd Thieszen was reelected. Hinze and Koebel will begin their three-year terms at the Dec. 21 board meeting. The directors were asked to consider who they would consider to serve as officers. Elections will be held at the Dec. 21 board meeting.

Two Community Hospital board members are also appointed to serve on the Community Hospital Health Foundation board of directors, which will also be determined at the December board meeting. In addition to the two appointed board members, the hospital chair and the hospital President and CEO also serve on the foundation board.

Action to be Taken

Under action to be taken, appointments and reappointments for allied medical staff, courtesy medical staff, telemedicine staff and consulting staff were approved.

Board Education

Troy Bruntz, Interim Chief Executive Officer presented the President's Report for fiscal year 2016. Board member education provided over the past calendar year was reviewed.

**Strategic Update

Under Strategic Update and Discussion, Steve Shaner, Strategic Planning Director, presented the balanced scorecard report.

In other updates, directors learned Community Hospital's health insurance premiums remained the same for 2017, while the dental insurance premiums were increased by 4 percent; on average amounting to 48 cents per payment.

Two certified registered nurse anesthetists were hired this quarter, joining Evan Geilenkirchen for a team of three. Brent Cowley, CRNA who was in the military and most recently living in Alaska, started October 11. He will provide pain management services and recently returned from training. Ross Beavers, who relocated from Columbus, started November 28.

Hospital directors and other key staff will receive leadership training from Custom Learning Systems on December 13 and 14. As part of the initiative, an eight-person service excellence council was formed. Three Oasis teams were selected to develop and hardwire best practices. Service excellence advisors were chosen. Also, all Community Hospital employees will be required to view "Everyone's a Caregiver" videos.

Review of Activities

Under review of activities, directors heard a report on recent patient satisfaction scores. Also, thank you notes were distributed and read.