The Brownfield Regional Medical Center (BRMC) Board of Directors had a regularly scheduled meeting Monday night May 15, 2023. The Board moved through the invocation and approved the minutes, then heard from BRMC CEO Jim Koulovatos.
According to Koulovatos, finances are beginning to look better. The March 2023 net income was $225,000, which is up $140,000 from February 2023. The year-to-date net is a ($849,000) loss, which is $597,128 better than March of 2022. Cash decreased by $100,000 from last month but increased by $700,000 from March 2022. Accounts Payables increased $571,000 from February and it’s an increase of $716,000 from March of 2022.
Revenue also increased $340,000 from last month, plus year-to-date revenue has increased by $500,000 from March of 2022. Other Operating revenue increased by $849,000 from last month, however, the year-to-date total is $500,000 from this time last year. This of course is due to reductions in State and Federal programs. BRMC received $833,000 in the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program and $54,000 in 340B revenue (340B is a federal drug pricing program for rural hospitals). $30,000 is from October 2022-February 2023 and $24,000 of this is for March 2023.
Salary expenses increased by $53,000 in March from last month and YTD increased by $575.000 from March 2022. Purchased Services increased by $446,000 from last month and YD has increased by $50,000 from this time last year. Koulovatos said, “We should start showing savings in the May finances and into June from the things CEO Chuck Norris has put in place.”
Next, the Chief Nursing Officer Janae Wright gave her a report. Wright began by saying that she had some good news for the Board. BRMC from October 2022 through March 2023 has spent $185,252.00 less on contract labor the prior year-to-date. Also, BRMC has spent $119,243 less on the Nursing Department salaries from October 2022 to March 2023 versus the prior year-to-date. “So that’s a grand total of savings $304,495 less on staffing costs,” said Wright.
Wright also told the Board they will be reimplementing bedside barcodes for medications. Plus they will be reimplementing bedside reporting, which is when the nurses hand over patient reports for the shift changes. Wright also shared some positive comments from past patients and said, “Lots of good news in the nursing department.”
CEO Chuck Norris gave his report as well. He told the Board there are some increases from various sources, such as the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) Grant which was $500,000. This grant is the result of extended clinic hours and pays 100% of those expenses.
Norris then brought up the Renewal Spa at BRMC. The renewal spa’s revenue has increased by 500% in the past several months. Norris attributes the increase to simply going over and taking time to look at and work on the products, such as hydration therapy, vitamin injections, hormone therapy, and skinny shots. Another expense cut Norris talked about was the Employee Health Benefits, which is $400,000. The decrease in health benefits is due to BRMC changing from a self-funded insurance product to a fully funded product.
The Board then moved to canvass the votes from the May 2023 Municipal General Election. The Board approved the votes and declared BRMC Board of Directors Incumbent Joe Silva and newly elected Jeffery Davis Jr. as winners of the election. Both candidates took the oath of office after the canvassing. The Board would then go into executive session and took no action.
