GRMC Board Chair Dr. Fred Fox, left, and CEO Robert Whitaker, right, recognized Lenora Naumann for her 15 years in environmental services.Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

At the Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting on June 26, 2024, Board Vice Chair Betty Vega read the mission statement, Member Jason Amaro read the vision, and Member Will Hawkins read the values.

Chair Dr. Fred Fox read the purpose of the hospital from the New Mexico Hospital Funding Act. He also said that he participated in a New Mexico Department of Justice Open Meetings Act training. He said one of the procedural aspects he would like to change is that they publicly announce those who are attending remotely. He noted that HealthTech's Patrick Banks was attending remotely.

Under recognitions, Fox recognized several staff members for their years of service. They included Rosie Humble for five years in pharmacy; Kimberly Dyndiuk, 10 years in the emergency room; Lenora Naumann, 15 years in environmental services; Vanessa Yost for 20 years in labor and delivery; and Charnelle Lee for 35 years in nursing.

Mark Sapp (while the person bringing the food cart was making loud noises, so it was hard to understand) gave public input. He said his first encounter with Gila Regional was in November 2021, "where I was diagnosed incorrectly by a chief medical director. I have since had a number of illnesses. I have since had four _____. Coming to GRMC was the gravest decision ever. I've talked to many, including Mr. Whitaker. I'm trying to get answers about my condition."

He said he was recommended to the chief surgeon for a surgery, which he refused. He later saw a GP (general practitioner?) in Dr. Rosser's office who suggested psychiatry. He said his MRI records disappeared after being edited. He said Denice Baird recommended another imaging study, a CT with contrast, after he had suggested replacing the MRI with another MRI. "She laughed, adding to the pile of atherogenic illnesses, which I have suffered here ever since. I have no evidence of integrity, compassion, accountability (quoting three of the values of the hospital)."

Sapp said CT with contrast is no fun and he's had eight."I tried to talk to several, the CE0, the CNO, the CFO, the compliance officer and I've seen no compliance with the values, other than the budgeting values. And I'll end there."

Next in public input, Mike McMillan, gave public input. "I wanted to share some information on a program that New Mexico Public Schools has partnered with. It provides public health services to all public school employees, and I believe university employees. It is called Surgery Plus. Right now it is only for orthopedic procedures for employees. The way it works, if a public school employee needs an orthopedic procedure, they register with the group and it directs them to a preferred orthopedic provider. In New Mexico, there are two, and they are both in Albuquerque. I think that is problematic, not only for our orthopedic services here, but likely also for the hospital here. And it's problematic for many other areas in New Mexico where orthopedic procedures are performed. I had a meeting with Surgery Plus two weeks ago. The way the program works is they offer reduced reimbursement to providers and surgery centers, like hospitals, in exchange for funneling more patients to the chosen providers. The representative was excited and said that he could draw people from Las Cruces to have procedures done in Silver City. I told him I didn't think that was possible or logical. I'm waiting for a contract to review, but he did share that the reimbursement is about 120 percent to 130 percent of what Medicare pays. For us, that would be about a 27 percent cut from what we normally see from commercially-insured patients. I would urge the hospital to either engage with Surgery Plus to investigate whether it is something we consider, becoming a network and contracting with him, and/or push back. Margins are already tight right now, financially in health care. I don't know that we could survive a 27 percent cut. I think it would be detrimental to services in our region. I imagine they sent flyers to every public school employee. I have some I would like to share with the board. They make it sound like their providers are the best of the best, which is another problem I see. We all know that rural health care providers have an image at times that they are not the best, and the flyer enhances that image. I'm happy to talk to you more about it if you wish."

Board Member and Silver Schools Superintendent William Hawkins said the state superintendent's group has also shared the concern on the impact on rural schools and services.

The next item addressed the consent agenda, which included several meeting minutes, with no detail.

The following items on the consent agenda addressed:
Consideration of an amendment to a professional services agreement with Daniel Arsenault, M.D. to increase the annual fee for radiation oncology services;
Consideration of a third amendment to the coverage services agreement for Emergency Staffing Solutions Inc. to remove the medical director fee for emergency medicine and trauma medicine;
Consideration for software license renewals to Security Enterprise-PC Connection, a three-year renewal with the hospital IT security system vendor with Cisco Services, which covers email security appliances, dual multi-factor authentication, firewall, intrusion/prevention detection, NGFW (next generation firewall), client VPN (virtual private network) and DNS (domain name system) filtering;
Consideration for antivirus software replacement with PC Connection, a three-year contract with CrowdStrike for antivirus security services;
Consideration for support and maintenance renewal with RayStation Cancer Treatment system with RaySearch Americas, Inc., a five-year agreement to provide support and maintenance for radiation therapy software; and
Consideration for an equipment lease for copier/printers with Pacific Office Automation, a three-year lease to provide new copiers and printers throughout all campus sites.

Hawkins asked for more detail on the Emergency Staffing Solutions item. Chief Executive Officer Robert Whitaker said the original agreement with ESS was for them to provide the medical director for emergency medicine and trauma medicine. "Last month, we approved an employment agreement with Dr. Marble to be our medical director, and we are contracting with him directly, so we are removing the fee we were paying ESS so we are not paying them for that."

Board members approved all items of the consent agenda.

With no old business, the board moved into new business.

Whitaker proposed the dates for a board strategic planning retreat to take place for a a half day from 1-6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15 and from 9a.m.-noon on Saturday, Nov. 16.

Member Javier Salas asked when the Community Health Needs Assessment results would be available. Matthew Stephens, associate administrator, said the final phase would take place in August to September and the final report should be completed by Oct. 31.

Salas said the assessment would be needed before the strategic planning session "so we can use it as a working document."

Fox agreed that the needs should be a guide to the strategic plan, including "how we incorporate the strategic plan in each monthly board meeting."

Vega suggesting it be part of the reporting processes so the members can monitor them in order to meet the goals and action steps.

Salas said he would like the board to have a "parking lot" document for the unanswered questions, so they don't fall by the wayside. "I have no idea where we're going. Maybe no one does, but things do tend to fall through the cracks."

The next article will address the administration reports.