Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 5:31 pm News Flash Archive

Today, the Greenwood Leflore Hospital Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting. The meeting had to be rescheduled from last Tuesday due to the snow storm conditions.

Representatives from Pafford Ambulance informed the Board that they would like to receive the transfer calls for the hospital since they are now the county's contracted ambulance service. Med-Stat is presently receiving most of those non-emergency transfer calls under a non-exclusive contract with GLH.

There was some dispute between Pafford and GLH CEO Jason Studley about whether Pafford's response times were as good as those of Med-Stat. Studley stated that he is not opposed to including Pafford for transfer calls, but that the choice is up to the patients, and they may be more familiar with Med-Stat than Pafford given the long-term relationship with Med-Stat going back 20 years. No final conclusion was reached, but GLH and Pafford will continue to exchange information.

After the meeting, GLH published a statement that noted that patient choice is not the only factor in determining which ambulance company is called to provide transfer services. It stated that the Hospital uses both Pafford and Med-Stat, and that third party contractual obligations and availability also contribute to the determination of which company to contact for each transfer.

The Board was informed that two urologists, husband and wife, will start seeing patients on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the old EMS Clinic right across the street from the GLH Emergency Room. The lease for the clinic building starts in April.

CFO Dawne Holmes reported that the Hospital is changing bad-debt collection companies due to performance issues with the current company.

According to the financial report provided by Mrs. Holmes, the Hospital had an overall operating loss of $1.60 million in January, down from $2.58 million in December.

However, the Hospital posted a lower overall loss for January of $208,000, in part by drawing down $1.3 million in CARES ACT and other grant money being held in reserve to offset the large operating loss.

The cash and cash equivalents burn for January was $2.76 million.

There is just over $5 million remaining of the $22 million in CARES ACT and other grant funding. it must all be used by June.

The Board went into executive session and excluded the media and the public for 92 minutes.

The Hospital Board meeting may be viewed here: GLH Trustees Board Meeting, February 23, 2021

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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