The Washington County Hospital Board of Directors met last night.  Chief Financial Officer Elaine Matzenbacher explained that the number of patients and admissions was down from what they estimated for the month of September, but very close to the same time last year.  Outpatient visits were at 2,951, nearly 300 more than estimated, as well as 278 emergency room visits, up from the estimate of 250 for the month.  For the year to date, almost all estimates are above the actual numbers, except in outpatient visits, which is up nearly 1,400.  For the month of September, the hospital reported a loss of $21,589, but for the year to date, they report an income of $253,835.  Kim Larkin, Chief Information Officer reported that they are now getting into their new data center, but will be getting things up and running in there through next week, without significant down time to all the departments.  She says there will be down time, but it will be short and location by location, instead of everyone down for a longer time.  Also, the redoc-PTOTSD health record carts are being introduced and the therapists and PTA’s are training now.  Larkin then spoke about a piece of equipment that broke down, the C-Arm unit, which was 12 years old.  She explains that the unit is mobile and can be used where the patient can’t be put onto an x-ray table, as well as used for surgery or procedures, because it has real time x-rays.  Unfortunately, it is not used that much and doesn’t produce much revenue, but is important to have, so it would not be worth it to spend over $100,000 for a new unit.  The Board approved the purchase of a Ziehm 2001 unit for $47,000 from Electromack, a company that would service the unit, as they do other equipment at the hospital.  Dave Davenport, Human Resources Director says the golf tournament went well and they raised $8,500 this year, which is $200 more than last year.  He also had the results of the employee survey.  Out of 156 employees, they had 76 returned, which is still a good number.  67 percent of the respondents marked that they enjoyed their job and working at Washington County Hospital, but the survey showed there are trust issues with management, yet it did not specify at what level.  One drawback to the survey might have been that it was sent out a week after employee evaluations were done.  Some comments returned included more training needed, having external marketing, wanting to make the hospital look better and having a cafeteria back for the employees.  Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Newby, showed the Board some brochures that have been made up for the hospital about the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace, should anyone have questions.  She says they are a certified hospital entity and have 2 certified counselors to help people sign up.  The brochures were free and will help the community with questions they might have.  So far they have only had a few calls about the Affordable Healthcare Act.  She also talked about the new Kaskaskia College Extension Expansion Project and how it would benefit the hospital, so they need to do some fundraising to help the college reach their goal of approximately $1 million still needed.  They will ask employees and alumni of  KC that are at the hospital or have moved through it if they can help with fundraising or donations.