FMC Board of Trustees Meeting – May 2024

FALLON MEDICAL COMPLEX, Inc.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

MEMBERS PRESENT                                     ABSENT                          

Curt Arnell, President                                       Del Espinosa, Board Member

David Kirschten, Vice President                       

Evelyn Neary, Secretary             

Elaine Stanhope, Board Member

Erin Lutts, Board Member

Michele Gray, Board Member

OTHERS PRESENT                                       

David Espeland, CEO                            Sarah Bartholomew, Business Office         

Marjorie Losing, CFO – via phone           Mary Grube, Community Clinic

Heather Schwindt, Recorder                           

1. I.   CALL TO ORDER

Curt called the meeting of the FMC Board of Trustees to order at 5:30 p.m. in the FMC Community Room. 

1. – There was no public input.

1. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

     No additions or corrections to the April 3, 2024 board minutes as distributed.  Erin moved to adopt approval of the minutes.  Elaine seconded the motion.  All aye, 0 nay.  Minutes stand approved as written.

1. – There was no public input.

1. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

     No additions or corrections to the April 3, 2024 board minutes as distributed.  Erin moved to adopt approval of the minutes.  Elaine seconded the motion.  All aye, 0 nay.  Minutes stand approved as written.

1. IV. MANAGER REPORTS

A. Sarah Bartholomew reported that she has been the Business Office Manager for a less than a year and an FMC employee for just over a year.  Her department is fully staffed with 2 full time admissions clerks.  She explained they are responsible for scheduling appointments with the clinic and process insurance claims and pre-authorizations.  She works closely with Margie and Katie DuCharme to concentrate on improving the work-flow process in the department in regards to the billing process.  Her current Q/A on reducing the number of missed charges in the clinic showed a recovery of $10,396 for the month of March.  She will continue to track the data and will report to ORCA in May.  She and Susan Stevens are woriking on implementing Patient Connect, an automated patient reminder service through TrueBridge.  There is a $2,700 implementation fee and then we are charged a flat rate after 1,000 “events” each month.  TrueBridge has agreed to waive the 1,000 “events” fee at this time, so we will only pay the implementation fee.  This service allows patients to pre-register their demographic information, upload insurance cards, reschedule or make changes to appointments.  The Business Office can also run insurance eligibility prior to the visit.  She will track confirmation rates from patients and how the system is working once implemented to check the impact it is making. Sarah went over the statement process and described the manual part of the process and how it works with sending out statements.  The lag time in statements appears to be in the mail system rather than with our process or that of the statement sender.

B. Automated Text Reminder Update:  Sarah discussed the Automated Text process that she has been working on with Susan during her report to the Board.

C. Rural Psychiatry:  Mary discussed our partnerships with Frontier Psychiatry and Rural Psychiatry during her report to the Board. 

D. DOT Physicals Update:  Mary discussed the updates with Dr. Espeland and Dr. Sullivan’s renewal to the registry and the addition of Dr. Moellmer to the registry during her report to the Board.

VII.  NEW BUSINESS
A. June/July Board Meeting:  Historically if a board meeting for July is within a day of the 4^th of July, the June meeting is held later in the month and the July meeting doesn’t take place as regularly scheduled.  It was discussed to hold a combined monthly meeting for June & July on June 19, 2024.  The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on August 7, 2024.  

B. 401(k) Match formula:  Upon annual review of our 401(k) with our MHN and TransAmerica representatives, it was noted that we have good enrollment, but a lot of employer match money is left on the table compared to the annual budget.  Our formula is currently $0.50 on the dollar up to 3% and then dollar for dollar up to 6%, which allows employees to have a total contribution of 10% into their retirement accounts.  It was proposed that we change the match to dollar for dollar up to either 4% or 5%.  A handout was provided showing the calculations for each option and the impacts of change they would have for employees and the budget.  Erin made a motion to pass a corporate resolution for the contribution rate to dollar for dollar up to 5%.  David Kirschten seconded.  All aye, 0 nay.  Motion passed and the policy will be changed and the rate will be changed at the start of fiscal year 2025.

VIII.     CLOSED EXECUTIVE SESSION. 

1. Contract Acceptance:  A proposed provider contract due in May was accepted and signed by the provider.  Next provider contract will be up in May, 2025.
2. Contract Negotiation:  A provider contract due in August was discussed and a motion was made to offer a renewal agreement to the provider. 
3. Financial Assistance Approval:  Application for Financial Assistance with parameters outside of our policy, which was submitted in March, was voted to be approved.
4. Independent Contractor Offer:  After discussion, a motion to hire a provider as a contract (1099) employee was made and voted to approve.

s\ Curt Arnell, President
s\ Heather Schwindt, Recorder and Transcriber