The Washington County Hospital Board of Directors met for a regular monthly meeting last night. To start off the meeting, Brad Holzhauer took his oath of office and was officially welcomed as a new member of the board. Nancy Newby announced the financial and statistical report for the month of April. It was a low volume month for WCH, with 12 patients in care, 2,309 outpatients and 146 ER visits. The board planned for 2,750 outpatients this month and 216 ER visits, so that mean that they were below expectations from their budget. Revenue was down by 10-percent for a loss of $200,000. Expenses were under budget by 5-percent from salaries, for a total of 6-percent under budget for all expenses. That means that total decreases the loss for this month to $174,000. Kim Larkin stated that Portal Use for staff is up, but the usage of the system for patients is down. Portal use is difficult for small communities to have participation. It was also announced that the cardiac rehab move to the smaller room is working well, with an overall positive result. Newby stated that the lobby renovation started yesterday and is going extremely well. WCH is having their front lobby upgraded with new lighting, ceiling, furniture and flooring. The auxiliary donated about 22 to $23,000 to have the renovations to the lobby. During this time, outpatients are using the ER entrance. Officials believe that this renovation should last about 2 or 3 weeks. It was also announced that at the Hospital’s Health Fair last week, 167 lab tests were conducted to area residents. WCH will be having pulmonary appoints available sometime in June, with their SSM affiliation. The next board meeting will be on June 26th.