Henry County Medical Center Celebrates a Year of Believing and Growing Forward to Accomplish a Positive Bottom Line

Cutline:  Pictured is Ben McCormick, Summer Junior Volunteer and Intern as he presents to the HCMC Board of Trustees.

Paris, TN – There was no “magic fairy dust” or “magic wand” at the Henry County Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting Thursday night, but there sure was a lot of celebrating the success of 20 months of hard work and growth as Lisa Casteel, CEO, shared with board members the results of the fiscal year 2019.

After two years of millions in losses, HCMC reported a positive bottom line of just over $10,000 consolidated for the year end.  By believing in ourselves and growing forward by touching every service line, growing them, and adding new ones, HCMC Administration, Management, and Staff have accomplished no small feat of transforming the bottom line of the organization, working hard to provide healthcare to our community so patient, families, and staff could stay right here at home for care.

By focusing on not just growth, put people and investing in ourselves, our organization has accomplished our mission to provide with trust, integrity, and leadership, truly believing and embracing that we could grow forward as an organization.

“News Channel 5 recently came to our facility to interview us about how we are still here as a rural facility while other facilities are no longer,” said Casteel.  “The common thread throughout the interviews from the reporter was that patients, families, and staff from front line to the top including myself believe this is home and we continue to work to keep it our home for healthcare.”

Casteel discussed the many initiatives around the success of the last 20 months including pay raises for staff, rounding, purchase of equipment so staff can do their jobs effectively, recruiting physicians, education of staff, and doing this with a focus on quality.  Volumes helped to drive the improvement with many departments helping that growth like The Women’s Center, Surgery, DME, Home Health and Skilled Care.

Casteel also discussed our physician recruitment needs, announcing the addition of an OB/GYN to our organization arriving sometime in the late fall.  She also reviewed the balanced scorecard and our outstanding results with only two areas in the red and one in the yellow.  Our growth and value areas saw green and blue across the board and overall our indicators were excellent showing the dedication and hard work of everyone at HCMC.

Dale Guffey, CFO, presented the total financial picture of the organization addressing the outstanding year and the huge growth achieved throughout the organization.  Guffey also presented the investments and debt report to the board.  Bad debt of $647,769 was approved and capital purchases of $449,972 were approved, with $300,000 of it going towards the cath lab build out.  Additionally, the construction of the stereotactic room was included in this, a service for breast biopsy that has been suspended since January until state approvals were in place to begin this build.

Billie McKee, CHRO, gave her report on community, discussing our patient satisfaction scores as well as our patient and family advisory council, ED employee and physician engagement, and other initiatives focused around people.  The goals under the community pillar were all obtained.

The Summer Junior Volunteer Program will celebrate its conclusion tomorrow and Ben McCormick, a Senior at Henry County High School, presented to the board about his summer volunteer experience and being an administrative intern under Casteel.  This summer, 20 students took advantage of the program.

Other people recognized during the meeting included Rhonda Crossett, Director of Women’s Services for her Department Director of the Quarter recognition given to her at the Department Director’s meeting, Kelly Winston, Executive Assistant, receiving her Certified Healthcare Administrative Professional certification, and Jess Joiner, HR intern this summer, graduating and obtaining a job at the Med in Memphis in the HR department.

The Board of Trustees meeting was adjourned and the EMS Board meeting was called to order where Guffey presented the financial statements with a year-end loss of $784,000.  Twila Rose, EMS Director, reported it had been a tough year in many respects with employee losses and retirements.  But on the positive side, Rose reported that response time was at 7 minutes, 47 seconds, which was a minute decrease from the year before and much better than state and national averages.  The department had 6,158 calls during the year with a reduction of runs to Nashville.  She reported that they are already looking at some new projects for this next year to continue to improve.

“I am very excited about our future,” said Rose.  “We hired three people today and have more interviews scheduled with paramedics and EMTs who want to come to work here because of the good things they have heard about us.”

Kreg Kyle, Board of Trustees members discussed the visits from the commissioners and asked how the request for a new ambulance was going.  Casteel reported about the visits to the county commission and that she along with physicians and staff will be at the September meeting to discuss the state of healthcare in Henry County.

To learn more about the growth at Henry County Medical Center, the community is invited to attend the July Chamber Coffee on Tuesday, July 30 at 8 a.m. in the cafeteria.

About Henry County Medical Center

Located in Paris, TN, Henry County Medical Center is a progressive, integrated healthcare organization committed to serving the healthcare needs of Henry County and the adjoining region. Including a 142-bed hospital and 7 other facilities, the medical center provides a variety of outpatient services, as well as inpatient care. Henry County Medical Center is a county-owned and operated nonprofit institution. For more information: www.hcmc-tn.org.