Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

Veronica Maynes receives from GRMC Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Fred Fox an award for her 20 years of service with Beginning Years.

At the meeting held Feb. 28, 2024, Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Fred Fox invited board members to read the mission, vision and values, and said the three are what drives the oversight of the hospital.

"In addition, the Hospital Funding Act cites as its purpose: To provide appropriate and adequate hospital facilities for the sick of the county," Fox quoted.

Trustees approved the agenda and Fox presented board comments. "I want to recognize the recently ended legislative session and the efforts of hard-working individuals who brought some serious funding to the hospital." He thanked the local representatives, Sen. Siah Correa-Hemphill, Rep. Luis Terrazas, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, as well as the governor who advocated for hospitals. He also recognized the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments Executive Director Priscilla Lucero, several of the board members and the CEO. He said he had attended the New Mexico Academy of Physicians meeting, where the chairman reported on issues important to the board that impact the hospital.

Fox noted House Bill 7, the funding bill, increased Medicaid reimbursements to 150 percent of Medicare. "This has implications for primary care, behavioral health and maternal-child. There was also a consolidation bill for mergers that may or may not occur. The Health Care cost analysis was also part of what impacts us, and so does the Rural Health Care Act. We expect them all to be signed. It was a valuable session for health care in the area."

Board Secretary Pat McIntire said HB 2 has $10 million for nursing across the state. "I think that is going toward scholarships."

Whitaker also noted that Silver City Assistant Town Manager James Marshall also helped in efforts supporting the hospital.

Fox then introduced the newest Board Member, Jason Amaro, who the County Commission appointed to fill a board vacancy.

Also introduced was Associate Administrator Matthew Stevens. A new Interim Chief Financial Officer Tim Johnson had been with GRMC for two days and would continue until a new permanent CFO is chosen, after the previously chosen permanent CFO, William Ermann left.

Years of service awards went to Ramona Estrada, not present, for five years of service in security, and to Veronica Maynes, present, for her 20 years of service with Beginning Years.

With no public input, Fox began the approval of the Consent Agenda, which considered:
Governing Board meeting minutes;
The first amendment to a practitioner employment agreement with Alan Cheverine, certified nurse practitioner;
The first amendment to a professional services agreement with Dr. Michael Durando;
The amendment to a coverage services agreement with Emergency Staffing Solutions, Inc.;
The capital purchase for replacement of three 1788 platforms with Endoscopic Surgical Camera Systems—Stryker Inc.;
The capital purchase for replacement of quality assurance instrument system of radiation therapy dosing, with service agreement with Sun Nuclear, a Mirion Medical Company;
The capital purchase for replacement of the OR's washer/disinfector with Steris Corporation;
Software license and support agreement for budgetary data and reports solution- data security with HealthTech Management Services, Inc.;
Resolution 2024-05 for signatory authorization for banking, adding Johnson and removing the prior CFO Ermann;
Resolution 2024-06 for signatory authorization for contracts, adding Johnson and removing Ermann; and
Resolution 2024-07 audit acceptance for fiscal 2023.

Trustee Seth Traeger said he felt like a couple of items were worth discussing in executive session before approving.

Board members agreed, and Fox moved item D and H to executive session. He also said that item K would be removed, because the hospital had not yet received the approved audit from the state.

Trustees approved the consent agenda with items D and H relegated to the closed session, and K was removed.

With no old business Board members approved the new business of moving the next board meeting to March 20, as the regular date March 27 was a school holiday and several members would be absent.

Next came reports and updates.

Whitaker said the first report addressed board education on capital outlay, referring to the ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan). "We are ready to go into budgeting season. For capital requests, we solicit information from directors and departments. We will develop a capital tracker and see the progress throughout the year. That is an internal process that will help with our budget that we send to the state. We have to put the items into the ICIP. We cannot request capital outlay without the plan. The process will begin with me, our finance team, Lucero and a contractor. We are also looking for more grants. For the capital outlay the hospital has received over the past five years, we haven't had any not spent in time that had to revert back to the state. We have one item that must be completed by June 30, but we already have the funds encumbered. All of them will finally be closed out. We have to prove to the state that the projects have been completed. That's important. In this fiscal year, 2024 and in fiscal year 2023, we will have completed by the end of this fiscal year, just under $6 million in capital projects. Thank you for just approving the $800,000 for needed equipment. We will be bringing our budget and the ICP to you in May and June. When we present projects for capital outlay, they are ready to go."

Trustee Javier "Harvey" Salas asked about long-term plans to replace the hospital or modernize the current facility. He asked what was needed to keep the current facility going. "I think some was what we approved today, I don't want to rely only on grant funding. Do we have an audit on what is essential right now to keep the hospital functioning?"

Whitaker replied that the hospital is working on an audit on the facility to determine needs. "We are working with the county. We do have some significant expenditures coming up in the next few years. We still have a duty and obligation not to defer any needed work on our facility, but there may be something down the road, so we want to make sure we're keeping up."

Amaro asked for more information on the facility audit.

"We did an investment grade audit in 2019," Whitaker said. "And I don't know when this new audit will happen."

Fox noted that a lot of the capital that the hospital has received over the past years has been due to the efforts by many people, such as Lucero. "I'm happy we can invest in capital needs for the hospital."

Salas said he would like to see a hierarchy of what needs to be done.

Whitaker noted that the items approved today were already slated for fiscal year 2025, but "it became apparent that we needed to do them now."

The next report in the next article will come from the Chief Nursing Officer Ron Green.