Allen County Regional Hospital continues to share information with Saint Lukes Health System in a move toward a possible lease agreement.
Much of the information shared has been financial, ACRH Board of Trustees chairman Loren Korte said at the boards meeting Tuesday night. The hospitals auditor has been authorized to share information with that of Saint Lukes, Korte said.
Thats going to help a lot as far as communication for both teams, Korte said.
He expects the hospital could receive a lease proposal from Saint Lukes by June or July.
The hospitals current contract with Hospital Corporation of America expires June 2020.
THE BOARD also heard an update on its mammography accreditation.
ACRH lost its accreditation from the American College of Radiation (ACR) in May 2017 for failing to meet clinical image quality standards. The FDA ordered the hospital to stop performing mammograms and none have been done since. Administrators changed imaging services providers to United Imaging Consultants of Kansas City. They also applied for new accreditation, a lengthy process.
The ACR has approved the hospitals action plan, said Tony Thompson, hospital administrator. The plan included paperwork attesting to the education, training and certification of staff, from technologists to physicians; and reports from the physicist who reviews the hospitals mammography equipment and company that maintains the equipment.
Staff training also is underway as part of the accreditation process, Thompson said.
THOMPSON asked board members to urge state senators to vote for expanding Medicaid.
Thompson shared an email from Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Association. It discussed the pending legislation and offered discussion points for board members to use when they contact legislators.
The Kansas legislature will return for a veto session May 1.
A House bill to expand Medicaid currently sits in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. The proposed expansion would include premium payments for beneficiaries, a work referral program, a poison pill that would end the program if federal funding drops below 90% and a directive for health care providers to come up with another solution if savings and revenue dont cover the cost of expansion.
