The Greenwood Leflore Hospital Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting.

According to the financial report given by Mrs. Dawne Holmes, the Hospital had an overall loss of $322,000 in December.

At the end of December, the useable cash and equivalents were $981,000.

As of the end of December, the hospital still owes Medicare $4.37 million. The Medicare loan is being paid down at around $102,000 per month.

Mrs. Holmes also reported that the lump sum catch up payment for the enhanced MHAP reimbursement from Medicaid was received in early January, so it will not be reflected until the January 2024 financial report is presented at February's meeting.

The enhanced MHAP payment to GLH for the months July through December 2023 is a total of $6.576 million, most of which was received earlier this month. The added "bed tax" that GLH must pay to the state for that 6 month period is $1.023 million. Going forward, the enhanced MHAP payments will be received on a monthly basis.

The board approved some changes to the hospital bylaws. The main issue revolved around which agency would accredit the hospital going forward. At the present time, GLH is accredited by the Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation. Since the hospital is moving to a limit of 25 inpatient beds if or when it obtains critical access designation from CMS, it will become necessary to move from the Joint Commission accrediting agency to the Mississippi State Department of Health, which can also accredit hospitals. The bylaws were amended in several places to make that switch-over possible.

In addition, the board dropped the requirement that the Joint Conference Committee meet twice a year even if there are no disputes to resolve. The Joint Conference Committee will still be available to resolve disputes between the Board of Hospital Trustees and the Medical Staff, should any come up.

The board then went into executive session, with the public and the press excluded for 18 minutes.