| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Resignation of WRH CEO official; Administrative Team in charge In last night's Regular March 26, 2013 meeting Neal Gold will be volunteer point person at Westlake, and the voice of the Administative Team, and day to day decision man in lieu of a CEO, until a new CEO is hired. Chairman Craig Pyles vows to see that Westlake will survive, providing some form of quality medical care to the people of Adair County, but stops short of saying "hospital." Restructuring is now an option. Support from all local physicans highly needed. Vectors are in positive directions, but increased revenue is needed. Mr. Rasmussen's resignation had been requested, was received and accepted, with expression for gratitude for being the right person at the right time during his tenure. Administrative Team includes former CEO, David Hayes, who is now Chief Financial Officer at Westlake. Click on headline for complete story, with photo(s) By Ed Waggener Adair County Hospital Board of Trustees Chairman Craig Pyles vowed last night at the March 26, 2013 regular meeting, "We're committed to keeping some form of quality health care for the people of Adair County," but later stopped short of saying that the form would be a hospital. The meeting was short, but fast paced, with clarification on the resignation of CEO David Rasmussen on Monday. The search for a replacement CEO has begun, Chairman Pyles said, but for now Westlake Regional Hospital will be run by an Administrative Team, a blend of paid hospital professional executives supplemented by the all volunteer, unpaid Board of Trustees. The board voted to approve the appointment of Trustee Neal Gold as the point man for the administrative team. Mr. Pyles said that the Mr. Rasmussen's resignation came at the Board's request - specifically, he said, he and Trustee Richard Grant requested it. He did not go into detail what the differences were, but said that "We had a parting of ways," and added, "Mr. Rasmussen is a good man, and the community owes him a debt of gratitude. When he came in, he was the right man for the job - for the time." After a brief Executive Session, moved to the first of the meeting instead of near the last on the posted agenda, the board voted to accept the resignation. Mr. Pyles reiterated his belief that the Westlake system can be saved with the hospital the anchor for the complement of medical services which also includes a profitable system of primary cares and outpatient services. The direction of the hospital, he said, is good, but improvements on the revenue side must come faster, he said. "Restructuring" an option; tax a must Bankruptcy is an option, but he said if that is used, it will be called a "Restructuring" effort. "Nothing is off the table when it comes to saving Westlake," he said. He asked that residents be aware that if the hospital were to fail, there Would be a $6.5 million debt. "That will be paid by the people of Adair County, whether they have a hospital to show for it or not." He said that the effort by creditor banks to impose a tax is critical to the survival of the hospital. "We need that money." (We haven't had time to check it out, but the word at the hospital was that the hugely successful Taylor County Hospital receives $1 million in taxes annually, a tremendous boost to its prospects.) More local physician involvement needed Mr. Pyles noted in the open meeting that local physician participation has been a major factor in the hospital's fortunes. "What we have," he said, "is the support of Dr. Chuck Giles, Westlake Primary Care, and the doctors (including Dr. Phil Aaron) in the Westlake Doctors' Building." While he did not mention them by name - others did - four major medical providers primarily send patients elsewhere: The Partin group to Greensburg; Taylor Rural Health primarily to Taylor Regional Hospital, as would be anticipated as TRH owns the Rural Health Clinic; and the Dr. Eric Loy group and Genesis Medical Center rarely use Westlake Services. No mention was made of the participation of Dr. Anne Burton's family practice, in Adair County but closer to Russell County Hospital than Westlake. He said that efforts will be increased to reach out to providers to use Westlake where appropriate. Search for new CEO already being planned; Administrative Team is Temporary A search for a new CEO is already planned. "This is temporary," Mr. Pyles emphasized. The Administrative Team at the helm includes all five board members, who, besides Mr. Pyles and Mr. Gold, include Trustees Bruce White, Richard Grant, and Brad Keltner. One or more of them will be on-site at most of the time, and will always be within telephone contact. New re-alignments in the staff include the making Gidget Warren the CNO - Chief Nursing Officer. Barry Corbin has been made top administrator for the primary cares. Monica Thomas continues to be in charge of maintaining the standards in infection control and meeting regulatory agency standards. The hospital's newly hired Chief Financial Officer David Hayes continues in that position. The board relies heavily on his extensive healthcare experience, including his tenures as CEO at Taylor Regional in Campbellsville and at Twin Lakes in Leitchfield. At this time, Mr. Pyles said, the board has talked with Mr. Hayes about taking the CEO position but said that, because of family matters, he is not currently interested in the added duties. Financial, other matters Mr. Pyles said that the hospital has been careful to maintain a good cash position, but that it had been somewhat possible only by adding to the hospitals accounts payable, which he put at approximately $2.7 million. A financial statement was not available at the March meeting. But the board did vote to approve the 2013 Audited Financial Statement, and in another Financial Matter voted to send $34,257.65 to the collection agency. Chairman Pyles asked the procedures leading up to collection agency status and was told there first bills, then phone calls, but that specific time tables aren't in place. He asked that that change, saying that he had intentionally not paid a $47 Westlake charge and that no one had contacted him from the hospital. "It doesn't matter whether it is the Chairman of the Board, the County Judge or Members of Fiscal Court," he said, "all the bills need to be collected." The board also heard reports on the Status of Swing Beds by Chairman Pyles; Material Management by Josh Bruce, and Laboratory, Rebecca Barber. Dr. Clinton Kiteck gave the credentialing report. The meeting was well attended, with most of the local media present as well as Adair County Judge Executive Ann Melton. End of Report for March 26, 2013 meeting The Adair County Hospital Board of Trustees meets at 6:30pmCT each last Tuesday of each month, at the Westlake Regional Hospital Conference Room, 901 Westlake Drive, Columbia, KY. Craig Pyles, Chairman; Neal Gold, Vice Chairman; Richard Grant, Secretary; Bruce White, Treasurer; Brad Keltner, Trustee. (Administrative Team headed by Trustee Neal Gold while CEO search underway). Cheryl Wall, Administrative Assistant. Phone 270-384-4753. Ext. 0 for operator. This story was posted on 2013-03-27 06:13:38
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic News:
RS Elementary 2nd Annual Anchors Aweigh 5k is April 13, 2013 Event opens LWC student's eyes to struggles of impoverished Driver flown from scene of 1-vehicle crash, Campbellsville, KY Agreement funds, stabilizes Kentucky pension system DAV Service Officer visit week later in April CU Baseball team ranked No. 21 in first regular season NAIA Poll Mr. Roger Dale Shirrell, Green Co., KY (1943-2013) SCC's Project Beam enrolling Farm/Migrant workers for GED Salutes Knifley Little League Board for great program David Waltz to demonstrate clay sculpting techniques at Berea View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
