RSS Feed
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Local hospital sees growth in its Geriatric Psych unit
If the Geri Psych unit can sustain a 90 percent occupancy for six months then the hospital can go and ask the state Certificate of Need Board for more beds. "That may be a message for us in the future, especially as the baby boomers get older," he said. "There will be a tremendous need for psych beds." Visits to the Grove Hill medical clinic were up. There were approximately 1,045 visits in August from 863 in July. A busy month for the clinic would include 1,400 to 1,500 visits, Sewell said. On the downside, August was the second month in-patient numbers were down at the facility. A normal average per month of inpatients would be approximately 13. The recent census has been nine in-patients. "All the insurance companies and Medicare are tightening the screws on who can come into the hospital now," Sewell said. "…It's almost getting to the point that if a patient meets admission criteria to a hospital, their level of care required is more than what a rural hospital can provide. "The hospitals in Mobile are full with transfers from rural hospitals." In addition, "deductibles and copayments from all the insurance companies are very, very high now," Sewell said. "A lot of people just don't have the resources. They have to try it at home and see if they can get better before they will agree to come to a hospital. It's a substantial amount out of their pocket." Solutions to this problem will have to be found in the political arena, he said. Sewell wasn't sure which proposed national healthcare plan he would choose. "Healthcare is a right for each individual.… Everyone needs a plan...regardless of how they do it. I would like to see that everyone when they are born, when they get their Social Security card, they get their healthcare card." Sewell remembers talking to a doctor from Poland who worked in a clinic at Packard's Bend-Lower Peach Tree. The doctor said "what you see there is almost what you see in a third world country. These folks have no access to care and can't afford the care. "A major decrease in the overall cost of care is to give everyone an opportunity to have (healthcare)," Sewell said. • Bad debt for the hospital has risen to approximately 20 percent, he said. "The major concern is not necessarily as many unemployed people here in Clarke County, but it is those who are employed and don't have healthcare. "…Folks in a job that pays $9 or $10-an-hour can't pay co-pays or they may not have insurance. They are barely able to keep the lights on - so paying the hospital bill…is way down on the priority list." Also, some area physicians and other medical facilities have sent patients with no resources or insurance to the Grove Hill hospital. "They cherry pick the (patients) they want," Sewell said. • There will be a need to purchase a new CT (computed tomography or CAT) scanner by the end of the year, Sewell said. The current one-slice scanner is out of date with current technology. Without a new device, patients will have to be shipped to other facilities. He will have a recommendation for the board at the October meeting. The hospital would also like to purchase two more infant warmers since OB/GYN services at the local hospital have increased, Sewell said. • For the month of August, revenues totaled $2,195,679.27, and expenses totaled $866,181.83. A year ago, the revenues were $2,002,594.22, and expenses were $755,276.29. • The board approved the following medical personnel to work at the local facility: Dr. A. Garrett Miller, active staff member; David Shaw, consulting cardiologist; and Caroline Reich, Pamela Kulbach, Phillip Neely and Abbas Chamsuddin, all consulting radiologists.
• The hospital Auxiliary will sponsor a Bridge Tournament at 10 a.m. on Oct. 13 at Southern Magnolia, a Golf Tournament on Nov. 15 at Timber Creek in Daphne, and a Jewelry Sale Oct. 25 and 26 at the hospital.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
