Officials with Allen County Regional Hospital continue to play a waiting game when it comes to two major topics: a lease to Saint Lukes Health System in Kansas City and the return of mammography services, after losing accreditation for the service more than two years ago.
Attorneys continue to work on a contract between ACRH and Saint Lukes, the hospitals board of trustees president Loren Korte said at a meeting Tuesday evening.
Everythings moving along and we havent had any hiccups, Korte said.
Meanwhile, hospital staff continue to wait for word on the next steps to bring back mammography services.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) approved a corrective action plan that required training for the hospitals chief radiologist, Dr. Sujit Gandhari, said Tony Thompson, hospital CEO.
As required, Gandhari attended a class at Washburn University and a clinical at Stormont Vail Hospital. He has not yet received a certificate of training from Washburn, which must be sent to ACR to prove the training has been completed.
After the college of radiology receives confirmation that the training requirements have been met, theyll notify Allen County of the next step in the accreditation process, Thompson said. Its likely ACR representatives will conduct a visit to the hospital at some point.
Thompson said he cant speculate what else might be required or what the timeline may be.
We have to take it step by step, he said.
The hospital lost accreditation of its mammography services in May 2017, when the ACR, acting on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration, determined the hospital failed to meet clinical image quality standards. The FDA ordered the hospital to stop performing mammograms; those who underwent mammograms between March 28, 2015, and May 19, 2017, were told to have their health care provider review the mammograms and determine if another examination at another facility was warranted.
In early 2018, the hospital changed its imaging service provider to United Imaging Consultants. Gandhari is a member of that group and was not the hospitals radiologist during the affected time period.
In other news, the board:
Heard a citizens request from Paul Zirjacks, who asked them to consider replacing plastic dishes and silverware in the cafeteria with reusable material in an effort to be more environmentally considerate. Thompson said he didnt think the facility had a dishwasher that could handle that many dishes, but the board said they would consider the request.
Heard an update from Thompson about the boards strategic plan and progress on goals. Among other highlights, Thompson said the hospital soon would end use of expensive contract labor in the home health department. Staff recently attended training on de-escalating violent or aggressive situations.
Heard a financial report that the hospital continues to see fewer in-patients, bringing in about 35 percent fewer in-patients in June than expected with an average daily census of 5.7. Outpatient visits, including emergency room visits, were about 10 percent lower than expected. Even so, the hospital kept its expenses down and posted a positive net income for the month of $70,000, and a positive net income of $200,000 for the year so far.
