Paris, Tenn. –At Thursday night’s Board of Trustees meeting, Henry County Medical Center CEO Lisa Casteel provided an update on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and that Henry County Healthcare Center is eligible for the second PPP Loan of $1.5 million and has submitted the application.
The Certificate of Need reform is back in legislation at the state level with further proposed changes in regulations to move toward no Certificate of Need process. She also discussed the recent vaccination PODS at HCMC and the Health Department. HCMC vaccinated 400 people at Wednesday’s Drive Thru POD. Currently, our county is at 16.2% vaccinated with the state of TN at 10.6%.
Statistically, the state of TN, the West District, and Henry County has seen decreases in the positivity rate. Today, Henry County is at 17.6% positivity rate. Additionally, there has been less testing at the state level, the West District, and Henry County. HCMC has had little to no COVID-19 cases over the past three weeks.
“Foot traffic in the ER related to COVID-19 has seen a reduction,” said Casteel. “Inpatients have dropped to zero this week. Yet, as we evaluate visitation, we have also looked at the county positivity rate, and it has been high for us, which has caused us to pause before opening visitation.”
HCMC plans to relax the visitation restrictions beginning Monday, March 1. For details of the entire policy, please see additional release: https://www.hcmc-tn.org/news/hcmc-announces-revised-visitation-policy-beginning-march-1/
In other news, HCMC is reviewing information for a possible gastroenterologist and had a visit with a general surgeon. HCMC has also closed the COVID unit with the reduction of cases in the hospital.
Brad Bloemer, Chief Financial Officer, reviewed the financial report for January. HCMC had a net income of $213,965. COVID-19 impacted the organization the most this month due to the increased costs in staffing and the low volumes. Over the fiscal year, HCMC saw an increase in staffing costs with $2.6 million spent on crisis pay, retention pay, and contract costs.
“We believe that we can work to improve our financials with opportunities such as the spine clinic expansion, implementing suggestions form the Delta grant review, and review all expenses,” said Bloemer.