Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Hospital Collections Office May Move To Hope

Because of the difficulty in getting four members to attend meetings, the Nevada County Hospital Board of Governors amended its bylaws accordingly.

According to the original bylaws, four of the seven members of the board had to be present at any meeting to constitute a quorum.

However, when one member's term expired no one was named as a replacement. Then, Marcia Griffin resigned her slot, and it, too, remains vacant.

This leaves five positions on the board.

For the past few meetings, no more than three members have been present at meetings.

But, there were four on hand Thursday to amend the bylaws and ratify motions passed when only three were in attendance.

Board president Don Mitchell, prior to the amendment, said he had thought three members were all that was needed to have a quorum.

Board member Duncan Culpepper made the motion to amend the bylaws so a simple majority of the remaining board members can be present to conduct business, and a majority of those on hand during meetings can pass motions.

Once the bylaws were amended, Mitchell said the board needed to address the discontinuation of monthly meetings, and change the meeting dates. "There's no need to meet every month unless we have business to discuss," he said.

Mitchell told the other three members present Karen Ward and Buneva Wood can send them the financial statements, and call a meeting if one is needed.

Bill Taylor said the board needs to stay knowledgeable on collections and what's going on at the defunct facility.

Wood said the financial statements can be mailed to the members monthly, along with members of the Nevada County Quorum Court. "If we need to take action," she said, "we can call a meeting."

She then recommended the board wait until the building is sold before doing anything about the medical records.

Ward said the appraisers were out Wednesday, measuring the hospital and administrator's house, along with looking at what is inside the hospital.

She said hospital attorney Glenn Vasser provided the appraisers with a list of the inventory and assets remaining.

Ward, changing topics, said one person has been on site to examine the physical plant as a possible purchase. She told the board she had given a list of eight people who had expressed interest in possibly buying the hospital to Nevada County Judge John Barham.

In addition, she took the judge a folder of faxes from vendors who want to be notified when the equipment is sold.

Returning to the discussion of board meetings, Taylor moved to dispense with regular monthly board meetings, with board members getting notification of collections each month. The motion included the board to hold quarterly meetings instead.

The rest of the panel agreed.

Wood said she located two places in Hope where the business office could be moved. One rents for $300 per month with no lease required, while the other goes for $400 per month and has a six-month lease. The hospital, she said, would be required to pay utilities on both.

Taylor said he would like to see the business office remain at the hospital as long as possible.

Wood told him it is inconvenient for her to come to Prescott daily. "I could work more hours in Hope," she said.

In addition, she said there will come a time when she has to actively look for another job, and will not come to Prescott at night to work on collections.

"I feel I could collect much faster if I were there," she said, "and faster collections means you won't be paying my guarantee as long."

Ward backed Wood, saying the controller is the lifeline of the facility at this point in time. "I endorse what she feels is best, but I understand the board's feelings."

Wood reminded the board there will be no one to do the collections when she finds another job, and the nearest collection agency is in Hot Springs and Little Rock.

She said she is looking for another job at this time, but not diligently. "I could do this at night and on weekends if it were more accessible," Wood informed the panel. "And I would. I feel responsible to complete this job."

Wood said there is between $150,000 and $200,000 in accounts from Medicare, Medicaid and commercial accounts which could be collected. This, she said, does not include what may be paid in on private accounts should the hospital seek judgements against the people.

Wood asked Culpepper to find out what the statute of limitations is on past due accounts, so she would know which private pay accounts to pursue.

The board agreed to hold off moving the business office until sometime in February. Mitchell said if necessary, the board will call a special meeting to discuss the issue further.

Wood said the office space won't be available in February most likely.

The motions the board ratified included two from their Jan. 3 meeting. One of these was to continue working on collections until April, and the other dealt with Wood's contract.

Her contract was amended to give her a guaranteed weekly salary and a percentage of the accounts collected she's worked on when she leaves. It also gave both sides the authority to terminate employment with no notice.

The third motion went back to December, and officially cut the maintenance contract back to 50 percent of the original salary.