Hope for Our Hospital!

The R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital is one community resource that we can ill afford to lose. It is an integral part of the high quality of life that we enjoy today in this beautiful county and our hopes for an even brighter tomorrow. That's why it is important that the citizens of our community unite behind the financially-struggling hospital and to let it be known to its owners, our county leaders, appropriate state and federal officials, and all concerned that this is one priceless community resource that we will not, and indeed, can not do without. I commend the efforts that are being made by many in the community right now to try to save the hospital.

In coming days and weeks, I plan to encourage community discussion and dialogue with regard to this crucial issue on my radio show. I urge citizens to call in on "Community Conversation" as we better inform ourself and try to apply that knowledge to positive community action to ensure that the day will never come when this hospial no longer exists. As a community of citizens many of whom contributed their hard earned dollars to establish the hospital 45 years ago and who deserve quick access to medical care especially in emergency situations we can not afford to lose the hospital. So let's maintain hope and have faith that our community and all the key players concerned will act responsibly and do what is best for our county: work to save and to restore the financial viability of the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital.

I welcome positive suggestions such as the proposal put forth by Patrick County banker and former state delegate and county administrator Barney Day. On Friday's "Community Conversation," Day proposed and invited public dialogue on his suggestion that a Patrick County Hospital Task Force be formed. The task force, Day said, "would be a group of unpaid, volunteer citizens from a cross-section of Patrick County appointed by no one, beholden only to our consciences, who are interested in the long-term viability of RJR-PatrickCounty Memorial Hospital." Day proposes that this citizens group gather information with regard to the hospital, its ownership structure, contractural obligations, licensing agreements, budget, financial condition, staffing, and other pertinent information about the hospital's current status. Once the fact finding phase of the task force's mission is finished, Days says "we will make this information available, in full, in writing, to the citizens of Patrick County." He adds that "we will digest it (the gathered information), understand it, and based upon it, make improvement recommendations to the current ownership and staff of RJR-Patrick County Memorial Hospital, and offer insight and advice to any interested entity, private or public, contemplating investment in, or subsidization of, RJR-Patrick County Memorial Hospital." This, I believe, is a constructive proposal and a prudent way of addressing one of the most important issues facing our community.

It is vitally important in addressing this issue that we gather all the facts and pertinent and accurate information that is available. As a concerned citizen who loves this county and our way of life, I have been doing a little investigating myself in recent days and can offer this information with regard to the hospital's current status based on discussions with sources whose requests for anonymity I will honor. From what I have been able to determine, the hospital was purchased by an investment group known as PCH Investors LLC (headed by Charles Trexler) which contracted the operation of the facility to a company known as PCH Operations LLC (headed by Gene Woodward and Steve Womack). This is the group that runs the hospital. In answer to a question I posed on the radio Friday, there is no community board that oversees the hospital like the group of prominent local citizens and community leaders who used to govern the hospital. Instead, the current hospital board is made of just 3 voting members, Mr. Woodward, Mr. Womack, and Dr. Ralph Kramer, chairman of the hospital medical staff. While the current hospital administrator, the director of nursing, the hospital executive secretary, and the ownership group's bookkeeper attend board meetings, they have no vote.

The R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital is a critical access hospital, licensed by the state of Virginia as a 25-bed acute care facility. Hospice of Patrick County is also covered by licensure but under a different contract. Our local hospital also maintains contracts with the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Radford University, and Patrick Henry Community College which periodically may send medical students to gain experience and training under a medical assistance program affiliated with our hospital. The hospital is also subject to contractural agreements in such areas as insurance, liability, food perchasing, pharmacy, radiology (for the rading of x-rays), and other contracts.

The hospital currently provides an amazing array of quality services, including 24 hour per day, 7 day per week Emergency Room (ER), ambulance and x-ray and lab services. Our hospital provides physical, occupational, and speech therapy, Hospice and Palative Care services, a Rural Health Care Clinic (a doctor's office in the hospital), and provides flu shots to residents. This hospital also provides the only Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ALS) service available in Patrick County on a 24-hour basis.

Amazingly and remarkably, the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital provides every medication box carried by every rescue squad on every ambulance in the county. These boxes cost $450 each. When the medications in the boxes expire or their contents are depleted, these medication boxes are continually replaced by the hospital at no charge. The hospital also supplies linens, oxygen, and other supplies to every rescue squad at no charge. If the county taxpayers had to pick up the tab for Emergency Medical Services now provided by the hospital it would likely cost millions of dollars.

According to a reliable source, to date no county taxpayer funds have been spent in an effort to keep the hospital afloat, "not a penny." I am told that $16,000 in financial assistance offered by the Caring Hearts Free Clinic to cover malpractice insurance to keep the ER open will not be needed afterall and will be returned because a Raleigh, NC, insurance group will continue to provide the coverage.

The hospital now employs 85 full-time employees and a total of 145 employees including full-time, part-time and those employed on an "as needed" basis. Our hospital and our community are blessed to have many dedicated employees who choose to serve here because they love our hospital and our people rather than take higher paying jobs in other localities. We are all human and occasionally make mistakes, but our hospital by all accounts provides excellent service through this dedicated staff despite the uncertainties and the hardships that they continually face. It is the dedication and grace of this staff of local people who have a genuine love and concern for their fellow Patrick Countians that we should all use as a guide and example in our own professions, in particular, and in our lives, in general.

It is apparent, however, that the current "for profit" private ownership group has failed to restore the hospital to financial viability, let alone profitability. The fact that the Patrick County Board of Supervisors has indicated that it is poised and ready to intervene in an effort to save the hospital speaks volumes about the depths to which the hospital has sunk under its current owners. In order to succeed this hospital must be managed and run like a business, but I am told by a reliable source, for example, that the hospital has not formally prepared a 2007 budget. A budget is a must if any business, government agency, or household is to be operated as efficiently and economically as possible.

Sources close to the hospital also say that the financial deterioration of this most needed medical care institution has been precipitated by the outsourcing of the hospital's billing and the closing of the business office. Without notice to the local staff, the local billing was turned over to a company in Mobile, AL, almost a year ago. Approximately $5.6 million in accounts receivable due the hospital currently needs to be collected and funds have been slow to come in causing cash flow problems.

A highly paid consultant, I am told, has been brought in (at the expense of the jobs of several long-time and highly capable local staff members) by the ownership group to oversee the hospital insurance coding and billing process. However, the hospital's financial decline has continued or accelerated and complaints about hospital billing have increased..

The good news is that there is a prospective buyer that is quite interested in purchasing our local hospital. A slow process of negotiations between the current and the proposed ownership groups have been going on since May. I am told that the prospective buyer is a Roanoke physicians group that is quite interested in the imporoving the medical care system in our county and has the recources and working capital that is needed to invest in a business in order to help it to grow and thrive. It is "hoped that the sale of the hospital is imminent," a source that has requested anonymity told me. Let's hope so! Let us also pray that God will bless our community with the continued high-quality, loving care that we have we have come to expect from our local hospital team of professionals who proudly serve the R.J. Reynolds Patrick County Memorial Hospital and the county that they love.

Call in to "The Great Day in the Morning Show" or comment on this website to express your views on the local hospital and other issues.

Until next time, my God bless you with a great day.

Richard